======================================================================= ______ _ __ _ __ / ____/___ ___________(_)___ ____ _/ /_(_)___ ____ / / / /_ / __ `/ ___/ ___/ / __ \/ __ `/ __/ / __ \/ __ \/ / / __/ / /_/ (__ ) /__ / / / / /_/ / /_/ / /_/ / / / /_/ /_/ \__,_/____/\___/_/_/ /_/\__,_/\__/_/\____/_/ /_(_) T h e U n o f f i c i a l C i r q u e d u S o l e i l N e w s l e t t e r ------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.CirqueFascination.com ------------------------------------------------------------ ======================================================================= VOLUME 17, NUMBER 3 March 2017 ISSUE #158 ======================================================================= Welcome to the latest edition of Fascination, the Unofficial Cirque du Soleil Newsletter. It's been quite an interesting month, wouldn't you say? While fans in the United States celebrated the 11,000th performance of Mystère on February 21st (check out this video: https://goo.gl/7Tawqy), and fans in Argentina patiently waited for the March 9th debut of Soda Stereo Sép7imo Día – No Descansaré, fans of La Nouba, though, had something to be sad about... * * * LA NOUBA OFFICIALLY CLOSING DECEMBER 31, 2017 * * * La Nouba to close seemed to be the rumor that just wouldn't quit, wouldn't it? Ever since the changes to Downtown Disney were announced (think Hyperion Wharf), there've been yearly rumors of La Nouba ending its run, with little movement either way. But over the last few weeks to months, there'd been more serious murmurs about the show closing, which as of Friday, March 3rd, became painfully real. The Walt Disney World Resort made the following announcement via the Parks Blog: With over 8,500 performances to date, La Nouba by Cirque du Soleil has been a Disney Springs staple for nearly twenty years. Since its inception in late 1998, La Nouba has been seen by over 10 million guests and will continue to dazzle audiences with its breathtaking blend of daring acrobatics and dazzling choreography through 2017, with a final performance scheduled to take place on December 31st. With ten months to take in a show, you still have plenty of time to be mesmerized by the artistry of the talented La Nouba team. “We are incredibly proud of the success that La Nouba has had for nearly two decades,” said Jerry Nadal, Senior VP of the Resident Shows Division for Cirque du Soleil. “We want to thank Walt Disney World Resort for a wonderful relationship over the years. We look forward to announcing what’s next for Cirque du Soleil.” I have mixed emotions about La Nouba closing. It's through La Nouba I gained my first glimpse into the world of Cirque du Soleil, coming on a rather tiresome evening in May 1999. But from the very first moment the show began, I sat utterly enthralled. It was of little consequence that I was as far away from the stage as one could get. In that moment all that was relevant was the artistry and pageantry on display before me. For truly a door opened; two worlds collided. Dreams clashed with reality. The mundane mixed with the marvelous. I had truly entered the dominion of Cirque du Soleil, glowing with spellbinding intensity... a vibrant kaleidoscope of artistry and daring... a splash of iridescent genius. I now knew the color of imagination and I never looked back, (creating Le Grand Chapiteau, CirqueFAQ, Fascination! Newsletter, and being part of CirqueCon and CirqueCast, amongst many other projects), so to have La Nouba's doors close after all that it has done for me is rather surreal. But I'm looking forward to what Disney and Cirque has in store for us next! * * * VOLTA RAISES ITS BIG TOP * * * Speaking of new things Cirque has in store for us: VOLTA's new grand chapiteau was raised on March 1st and its colors are a bit different from what we fans accustomed to. And it's caused quite a stir. While some just don't like it because they don't like it, others (like me) refer to brand identity as the reason for questioning the change. In the past it's been very easy to identify a Cirque big top with just a glance: whether striped or swirled, they've always been (with one or two exceptions - European and Japanese tours notwithstanding) yellow and blue. Luzia's big top was a surprise, as it marked the first time the big top featured patterns and colors related to the theme of the show within. [The patterns evoked the association between Cirque du Soleil (the sun) and Mexico (the word originates from Mtztli, meaning 'moon," and Xuctli, which means 'middle') and symbolized the meeting of two celestial bodies: the sun and the moon. A bird's eye view reveals the path of the stars that spiral out from the centre of the Big Top - the symbolic meeting point between earth and sky, sacred and human.] Volta's big top features a mostly white canvas with silver swirls, and there's a reason for that according to a recent video of the raising: it's light color helps reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Red Bull is a strategic partner with this show, as its theme is one of extreme sports, so what do you think about this change? And should we now expect new and differently designed big tops for each new touring show? [We're hearing no, but you never know!] Check out the video here: < https://goo.gl/WqKZTd >. * * * NEW DVDs COMING SOON! * * * Fans rejoiced when both Luzia and TORUK were filmed and then released for home consumption, and equally elated when KURIOS was filmed during its stop in Miami, but there's one question everyone wants an answer to: when will KURIOS be released on DVD? Soon is the only answer. But that's not the only DVD we have to look forward to - a documentary on the creation of Soda Stereo Sép7imo Día – No Descansaré is also due to be released, only this time we have a date: March 9th. Details to come whether or not the DVD will be available for purchase through Cirque's online boutique, on-demand, via Amazon, or just on site. And if that wasn't enough to whet your appetite, we also got word that La Nouba was recently re-filmed, but like the filming for Zarkana's last performance in Las Vegas, ZED, ZAIA, Viva Elvis, and IRIS - this new recording is for employees only. DRAT! * * * WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU RAN CIRQUE? * * * "Cirque du Soleil’s new owners are trying to turn a quirky circus into a strategically savvy business," writes Michal Lev-Ram in a fantastic article looking into the business aspects of the new Cirque du Soleil (which we have in-print this month as a special from Fortune Magazine). And it's no small juggling act, he goes on to say in his article. As a bit of an aperitif, check out this video from Fortune, which also looks at TPG's investment into Cirque du Soleil: < https://goo.gl/pE8w6R >. Two passages from Daniel Lamarre immediately stand out from the video: 1) "We've very serious and supportive about accelerating the pace of development of new shows. Obviously, there was some anxiety but it didn't last long because the people in creation and production are totally fueled by new shows. And that within a very short period of time brought stability - emotionally - in the organi- zation and now we're at the stage where people get very much [elated] by the fact that we are accelerating the pace of the development of new content." And... 2) "We're going to open up an NFL Experience in Times Square so you cannot talk of a better window for an artistic content provider to put together a new experience for a customer. So that experience in itself opens the door for Cirque du Soleil to a new category of experiences that we can develop moving forward in a lot of different sports in a lot of different cities... Pretty interesting, no? I invite you to read this month's special feature entitled "When An Investment Firm Buys a Circus" to learn more about TPG, their involvement with Cirque, and Cirque du Soleil's future in business! (Including a Q&A with Cirque CEO Daniel Lamarre.) And speaking of business opportunities... * * * NFL EXPERIENCE TO DEBUT IN NOVEMBER 2017 * * * Superbowl LI has come and gone with the New England Patriots crowned victor over the Atlanta Falcons, and although I'm not much of an American Football fan by any stretch of the imagination, when Cirque du Soleil became involved with the NFL I had to sit up and take notice. Following the Superbowl, the NFL asked its fans if they wished they could keep the adrenaline rush going after the season. "Your wish is about to come true," they replied. "Beginning this November, there will be one place where you can experience the heart-pounding thrill of playing in the NFL, 365 days a year, in the heart of New York City." What on Earth is the NFL talking about? Why, the previously mentioned NFL Experience by Cirque du Soleil of course! While many details about the partnership and the offerings at the experience have so far remained a mystery (read up on it here: https://goo.gl/KEEJpM), a few details about the upcoming experience have been released on their website (www.nflexperience.com), which I've outlined below: o) DISCOVER WHAT IT TAKES - Bring your adrenaline. Bring your passion. Bring your best game. Because beginning this fall, there’s a place to experience the heart-pounding thrill of playing in the NFL — 365 days a year in the center of NYC. o) FEEL THE RUSH - A state-of-the-art, 4-D cinema experience will take you from the stands to the field. Through exclusive footage, you will be transported from Kickoff in September through the Playoffs, and maybe, just maybe, make it to the Super Bowl. o) SUIT UP - No one said winning would be easy. Dive into an elite NFL training regimen, visit the locker room and get the game plan, and see how you measure up against the pros. o) TEST YOUR TALENTS - Learn the fundamentals of football, complete with timed, physical challenges that help hone your skills. o) EMERGE A CHAMPION - The road to The Big Game is paved with hard work, dedication, perseverance, and commitment. Get a photo with the Vince Lombardi Trophy, explore the Super Bowl rings, and take in the glory of victory. It all sounds very sports-y, and not very Cirque-y, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. Cirque du Soleil has named consumer attraction veteran Danny Boockvar to head up its NFL-themed 4D theater and permanent exhibit in Times Square. Read more about this appointment in our news section this month. * * * AND LAST, BUT NOT LEAST... * * * In early December, NETFLIX in North America began airing Luna Petunia, Cirque du Soleil's first attempt at a specialty children's animated program. And with our first child nearing 11 months old, my wife took quite an interest in watching and reviewing the show for us. You can read her fantastic review within! To make an artist for one of Cirque’s productions, it takes a talented individual who is open to new experiences – and veterans who can guide the way through those new experiences. Cirque du Soleil has assembled some of the most well-known and respected collaborators in their fields – coaches, choreographers, creators, composers and others – to help artists achieve their goals. And through a series of interviews on their casting website, we meet some of them. Like the “Meet the Artist” series of Q&A’s we recently published, the “Meet a Mentor” set are equally fascinating reads – even more so! We’ve collected all 11 mentor interviews for you to peruse in this series, which, due to the page count, we’ll publish in three parts, beginning with Part One: André Simard (Acrobatic Research and Development), Bernard Petiot (Vice President, Casting and Performance), and Boris Verkhovsky (Director of Acrobatics and Coaching). So be sure to check that out as well! And, of course, we've got our monthly look at Paramour's earnings. Don't forget - their last show is Sunday, April 16th! Week This Week Potential Difference Seats % Cap Ending Gross Grosses in Dollars Sold ------------------------------------------------------------------ 01-Jan $1,908,018.00 $1,805,456.00 $807,246.95 15,125 99.72% 08-Jan $1,218,860.80 $1,805,456.00 -$689,158.15 14,491 95.54% 15-Jan $999,968.70 $1,544,604.00 -$218,892.10 11,683 88.03% 22-Jan $903,287.95 $1,805,456.00 -$96,680.75 11,528 76.00% 29-Jan $935,804.25 $1,805,456.00 $32,516.30 12,257 80.81% 05-Feb $662,145.25 $1,515,054.00 -$273,659.00 9,107 68.62% 12-Feb $667,758.25 $1,515,054.00 $5,613.00 8,692 65.49% 19-Feb $1,119,906.75 $1,748,376.00 $452,148.50 13,691 90.26% 26-Feb $878,719.75 $1,544,604.00 -$241,187.00 11,239 84.68% Well, that's all I have time for this month. Let's get to the rest! /----------------------------------------------------\ | | | Join us on the web at: | | < www.cirquefascination.com > | | | | At CirqueCast: | | < http://www.cirquecast.com/ > | | | | Realy Simple Syndication (RSS) Feed (News Only): | | < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?feed=rss2 > | | | \----------------------------------------------------/ - Ricky "Richasi" Russo =========== CONTENTS =========== o) Cirque Buzz -- News, Rumours & Sightings * La Presse -- General News & Highlights * Q&A –- Quick Chats & Press Interviews o) Itinéraire -- Tour/Show Information * BigTop Shows -- Under the Grand Chapiteau * Arena Shows -- In Stadium-like venues * Resident Shows -- Performed en Le Théâtre o) Outreach -- Updates from Cirque's Social Widgets * Webseries -- Official Online Featurettes * Videos -- Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds o) Fascination! Features * "It's Bouncy-Bouncy Boing-Boing Time!" A Review of Cirque/NETFLIX's Luna Petunia Written By: Nicole Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) * SPECIAL /// "When An Investment Firm Buys a Circus" By: Michael Lev-Ram, Fortune Magazine A Special to the Fascination! Newsletter * "Casting Q&A's - Meet a Mentor, Part 1 of 3" Edited By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) o) Copyright & Disclaimer ======================================================================= CIRQUE BUZZ -- NEWS, RUMOURS & SIGHTINGS ======================================================================= --------------------------------------------------- LA PRESSE -- General News & Highlights --------------------------------------------------- Paramour vs. Dandyworld?? {Feb.09.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- It’s called Dandyworld, and it’s a story of a boy from an innocent time, and an innocent place. Wait, isn’t that Paramour? Well, yes, and no. According to an interesting post on one of BroadwayWorld’s message boards, it’s actually a bit more complicated than that. # # # Paramour vs. Dandyworld Songs (Composer Put Same Song in 2 Musicals) Posted: 2/8/17 at 7:45pm I sat quietly for over a year on something involving Cirque Du Soleil’s Paramour Broadway musical. But after being sued twice in a year by Cirque Composer and my Co-creator of a 10 year project, I have decided to speak out. Dandy is a story I wrote 10 years ago, with the intention of making it into a musical with co-creator Andreas Carlsson, who is a songwriter. I co-created and co-own the Dandy Project alongside Andreas. To cut to the chase, Andreas took the project’s title song “Dandyworld” (which again, I co-created and co-own) out of a #1 Swedish Novel of which I am the author, and he sold it to Cirque Du Soleil, without telling me. Cirque’s top brass didn’t seem to know either. (That is, besides Scott Zeiger, Cirque’s Broadway CEO, whom Andreas worked with to get Dandy made into a musical.) The song is written about my story, using my characters and is actually being performed in the novel on stage by a character named, Krazy, (A Ghost / Angel Club Owner at a magical place in the story called Krazy’s Club.) Cirque pulled the song after it was used in the Macy’s Day Parade. Which was good. What is not good, is that they refuse to state that they WILL NOT use the song in the future. (Only saying they don’t INTEND to use it again.) They seem to be sitting back hoping my multi-millionaire co-creator can sue me into the dirt and take away my rights. This is WRONG. The public should know when a company behaves this way. They hid the truth for over a year, and watched from the sidelines as I have been dragged through endless Federal Court proceedings. Finally I have decided to use my 1st Amendment Right of Free Speech and stand up for myself and others who have been through this sort of bullying. # # # In the video (https://goo.gl/nPKoJM) are pages from the Dandy Novel that this person is the author of, with both songs side by side. Interesting! { SOURCE: Broadway World | https://goo.gl/jC1j3G } Las Vegas: Get To Know Your (Cirque) Neighbors {Feb.10.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- It’s going to be one of the most talked about advertising campaigns in this city’s marketing history of the wild, wacky and whirl. Cirque du Soleil has created a playful campaign that encourages locals to get to know their neighbors by showing that Cirque performers are just like us — residents with ordinary daily lives. Starting this month with TV and outdoor ads, plus online and local print, artists from “O” at Bellagio, “Ka” at MGM Grand and “Zumanity” at New York-New York will be seen watering the lawn, picking up dry cleaning and getting coffee en route to work. Except that Cirque does it a little differently than you and I in suit and tie. They will be shown doing what we all do but in extravagant costumes and meticulous, show-ready makeup! Look for “O” ballerina Yuliya Eremina in Southern Highlands, “Ka” artists Barri Griffiths in Green Valley and Eric Henderson in Spring Valley and “Zumanity’s” Marina Tomonova in Enterprise. Cirque’s marketing director, Lou D’Angeli, explained his campaign: “We wanted to show the more human side of our artists who at times may seem superhuman and larger than life in our shows. At the end of the day, they are your neighbors.” Lou plans the campaign to continue through summer with additional Cirque performers. Check out images from the campaign here: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=9616 > { SOURCE: Robin Leach, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/OdAGw1 } See TORUK’s Lydia Harper Transform into a Na’vi {Feb.13.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- To promote the new Cirque du Soleil show “TORUK – The First Flight,” which is based on James Cameron’s “Avatar,” visitors to The Franklin Institute on Feb. 7 were treated to a surprise. Lydia Harper, a Cirque acrobat, applied her stage makeup in front of a crowd of children, museum guests and press. The demonstration was to show the transformation from human to Na’vi, who are the characters in “Avatar” that inhabit Pandora. “TORUK,” coming to Wells Fargo in March, is set thousands of years before the events depicted in the film. Every detail in the production was approved by Cameron. Simply put, Harper’s transformation into the other-worldly being took a whole lot of blue and about 45 minutes. Every performer in “TORUK” has to apply their own stage makeup; no professional makeup artist travels with the Cirque crew. The cast is given about two hours to put on the blue face paint before each show – and there’s some pride in being able to do it in under an hour. The performers start with a cream base for their stage makeup, then use a powder to keep the base in place through each acrobatic trick. After the powder is on, details and highlights are added so that even the nosebleed seats can tell they’re looking at a face. Once makeup is in place, it’s time to put on the blue suit. Almost all of the performers wear a basic blue suit, then interchangeable blue pieces are added to make them look different. The performers also wear a hood that goes over the body suit and connects under their chin. Hair pieces are sewn into the hood so performers can easily change to play different parts and their hair won’t fly off when they’re flipping on stage. Learning to do your own stage makeup might be challenging, but for many of the performers, it was having to work with a tail that required the most training. If you remember from the movie, however, all Na’vi have tails, so there was no getting around it. See her transformation here: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=9623 > { SOURCE: Philly Voice | https://goo.gl/wd7uJK } My Big Butt…and other reasons I don’t work for Cirque {Feb.15.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- My butt has been the center of much conversation in my life as a performer. I’ve had it referred to as “a nation unto itself” among other less charming titles. I have always been bottom heavy, even as a little girl, and as a dancer and artist it’s been one of my dominating characteristics. Every performer overhears things being said about them by audience members who don’t believe they can be heard (btw…we can hear you) and in my case it’s always been, “look at her BUTT!” I ain’t mad…I like my butt just fine. It suits me and i find it looks nice on a hoop. It makes me feel powerful and feminine. Whatever, this is not a post about butts, even if it did make a damn fine title. There comes a moment for every freelancing aerialist that they will have to face this question: “Have you worked for Cirque?” Followed by the inevitable, “did you ever think about trying?” This question is brutally annoying, because A) Cirque is a word that means circus. It does not just refer to one company, however large. And B) it is a given that the asker is looking for one answer only…yes. And any other answer means you have failed. Other irritating versions of this question including the ever-patronizing, “did you ever think about doing this professionally, like in Cirque du Soleil?” are equally obnoxious to anyone who is already “doing this professionally”. Do not misunderstand me. I greatly respect Cirque du Soleil, and enjoy much of their work. I honor them for their origins, and for what they have done for the artform (arguably paving the way for it to be relevant in the lives of so, so many more people than it was before). This is not a condemnation of the company whatsoever- however it is a story about how I learned the importance of defining success in my own terms. Which much to my surprise and in service to my sense of humility, I had not done as well as I believed I had. So…have I worked for Cirque du Soleil? The answer is no. Here is the story of how that came to pass, for once and for all, so that it is here for all to see, reference, and hopefully enjoy. The year was 2014, and after applying by way of creating my profile I was invited to the aerial circus performers audition in Las Vegas! Well shit my bricks, I was on cloud nine! I discovered my good friend Ms. Eve Diamond was also invited, so we immediately joined forces to share a room in one or another of the ridiculous casino hotels and share a rental car, blablabla. Eve is gorgeous, strong, tireless, and really really FUN, so I was looking forward to what was sure to be a great trip. By the way, I should mention here…I had every intention of scoring that audition. Strong? Check! I could murder the list of conditioning recommended on the website. The flexibility requirements were child’s play. But most of all- i had made my best act yet that prior spring…a unique, dynamic explosion of lyra to Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower”. I was achingly proud of it. I realized, of course, I probably wouldn’t be allowed to perform that act in a Cirque show. Someone else was in charge of most of that stuff (that stuff means, the actual creative art that goes into these enormous shows). But I was after the holy grail, the golden ticket…the ability to say “yes” to that damnedable question. And I felt no doubt that I had earned my place amongst those mighty titans of industry. It was basically a formality to go through the audition. What an ass I was. Just reread that last sentence and get a really good idea of what an ass I was. The audition day came, and it was just as fun and awesome as I expected it to be. I felt no competitiveness with my fellow candidates…why would I? I was not feeling insecure. I was feeling exultant. I cheered and hollered for everyone (btw, you’re kind of a jerk if you can’t wish another candidate well. Come the fuck on.) and they cheered and hollered for me. Eve destroyed it, and so did another friend of mine who was there- yeah…our world is small, you will know people at auditions. And I performed well, and was happy with my work. Fast spin, all tricks were bossed. And they didn’t call my number. And they didn’t and they didn’t, and then they were thanking us for being there, and they still didn’t call my number. I wasn’t crushed…I was shocked. They invited us to stay for feedback if we wanted some, and you bet your ass I did. I couldn’t help but notice, all of the hoop artists they asked to stay were good. But they weren’t all GREAT. Some were! Some were extraordinary. But more of them were entry level hoop artists, with great gymnastic ability. And some hadn’t demonstrated a fraction of the work I had put into my own craft. My question was, what the hell??? I finally got my turn to ask for feedback, which of course I did politely, because while I might be an insufferable fool in my mind, I can control my demeanor. The casting director was lovely and very approachable; and in an no-nonsense manner told me I was very unique, dynamic, and highly skilled, but my body type didn’t fit what they needed. When I blinked back at her, she indulged me by explaining that it frequently does boil down to costuming. This shouldn’t have been news…my own first coach had warned me of this, having been passed over at many auditions where she performed in the top percentile, yet didn’t get picked because her body type didn’t fit the costuming. And yet, I hadn’t really heard her until now. The casting director kindly pointed out that in a different discipline, they did accept female body types that weren’t “tiny little things” but for my specialty I simply would never fit what they needed. I thanked her sincerely and departed with my mind finally blown open to the idea that my coach had tried to suggest to me years ago. I had to take a second to remember every drop of blood and sweat and the money and the sheer bloody force of will that it had taken to make me the creature I was, was at this juncture worth less than the price of a new costume in this particular situation. That is not something to be upset by; it is not fucked up, and it is not insulting. It is a fact to acknowledge and then move on, further educated. What happened next? My good friend Eve (who did get into the database with her killer rope act) and I retired back to our ridiculous casino hotel, put on slutty dresses and lost $5 each at the slot machines. Then we had cocktails and celebrated a day lived very well. So what’s the point of this story? I’m so glad you asked. Just like being good does not get you jobs, and getting jobs doesn’t mean you are good, being good doesn’t get you cast. Being a good fit for what they are casting for at that time gets you cast. Don’t get the audition? Still want the job? Wait a year then audition again. You don’t know what they are looking for. Most of the big companies that hire circus artists in the United States and beyond are running a business. They operate as a business, not a dream machine. Specific looks are very important to the finished product, and the product has already been planned; signed sealed and delivered, designed by dozens of experts who are well compensated for their time. No one is in business to make you feel validated. They are making shows. Lots of people are making shows. YOU can be making shows. You might not have the Zarkana theater at your disposal, but at some point, neither did they. If you can get a job with Cirque du Soleil, go boss that shit. If you can get a job with anyone, go boss that shit. I beg you to examine your own beliefs about your work, your artistry, and what you view as success. A moment like this one will probably happen to you, if it hasn’t already, and you will see that your own definitions of success and accomplishment are imperative. Not only when confronted by the once and future king of what the world at large considers successful in the circus world, but by the mighty weight of the outside world’s opinion of this thing you are doing with your life; which is already under attack at every possible angle for the crime of being unusual. Now go out there with your big butt, short arms, bad skin, and whatever else you’re sporting and find someone who can’t wait to put it on stage. Or just say fuck it and put it on stage yourself. Xoxoxo Rachel Strickland MadameRex.com { SOURCE: MadameRex Blogspot | https://goo.gl/ekOl2D } Lamarre gives ISE 2017 Closing Keynote {Feb.15.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- The importance of taking risks, allowing creativity to flourish and relishing new challenges were key themes of the ISE 2017 Closing Keynote, given by Daniel Lamarre, CEO of Cirque du Soleil. The world’s largest theatrical production company, Cirque du Soleil’s shows combine acrobatics and other traditional circus skills with cutting-edge audiovisuals and staging. During a very engaging and entertaining presentation, Lamarre, who is responsible for the company’s creative and business strategy, gave some pointers from his time at Cirque du Soleil that can be applied to other businesses in the worlds of creativity and technology. “I’m a big believer that new technology is going to change entertainment,” he said, going on to describe some of the ways that evolving technology has influenced the evolution of a number of highly successful Cirque du Soleil productions. An important part in the development of Cirque shows, which helps to push the envelope creatively is C:LAB. This an in-house creative laboratory where new ideas and technologies can be tested, with a view to incorporating them into future productions. Cirque’s very first show in Las Vegas, Mystère, which is still running after 22 years, contains a spectacular, but expensive special effect where a curtain is shredded into a large number of pieces. Steve Wynn, the owner of the casino venue, questioned the need for it, but, Lamarre recounted, the company’s founder Guy Laliberté insisted that it would create a wow factor that audiences would remember. “When you want to do a breakthrough in technology, you have to take risk,” said Lamarre. Being open to new ideas has been a constant throughout Lamarre’s time as Cirque CEO. He recounted meetings with Paul McCartney, James Cameron and representatives of Michael Jackson’s estate, all of which resulted in new shows. Lamarre also described how one of his creative teams – generally comprised of people with a mix of nationalities, to provide a varied perspective – once explained to him their vision of a show without a stage, using technologies that didn’t exist, but which they thought could be created by bringing together the work of two people who had not met before, and which they wanted to pitch to MGM. “Isn’t it great?” they exclaimed, full of optimism. MGM’s response? “’Only you guys from Cirque du Soleil can be crazy like that – so let’s go, do it.’” The result was Kà, which has been seen by more than a million people since it opened in 2005. He concluded: “If you take the words ‘show business’, the word ‘show’ comes first. If you have a great show, you will have a great business. If you don’t have a good show, you will have no business.” { SOURCE: Installation International | https://goo.gl/GuBZ35 } Cirque Names President for NFL Experience Times Square {Feb.22.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- The Cirque du Soleil has named consumer attraction veteran Danny Boockvar to head up its NFL-themed 4D theater and permanent exhibit in Times Square. The former Girl Scouts of USA and New York Cruise Lines exec will oversee the 40,000 square-foot interactive theater and digital exhibit scheduled to open in November on the first four floors of a tower being built at the corner Seventh Avenue and 47th Street. The licensing deal with the NFL and the NFL Players Association will see the circus behemoth create its first sports-themed attraction, NFL Experience Times Square, with none of the usual Cirque du Soleil theatrics and acrobats, but instead targeting fans of American football year-round in the heart of Manhattan. The permanent exhibit will include interactive screens surrounded by information about the NFL, and a planned auditorium for a 4D show to be co-produced with NFL Films promises a roller coaster ride for football fans, with seats wired up to rock and roll with the game action. 4D cinema systems typically include moving seats, air/water blasts, fog and other special effects, programmed to sync with the action on the screen and sounds in the theater. Cirque’s NFL 4D cinematic experience will take fans from the stands to the field as they journey from kickoff in September through the NFL playoffs, and potentially to the Super Bowl. The NFL attraction will also allow fans into a recreated locker room, where they can study the game plans of actual teams. They may also get a photo with the Vince Lombardi trophy, learn about Super Bowl rings and see how they measure up against pro players via timed, physical challenges to help hone their football skills. Cirque du Soleil will spend about $40 million to build the permanent attraction at 20 Times Square, with the NFL providing memorabilia and access to the NFL Films library. The venture with the NFL follows the Cirque launching a New York City presence with its first Broadway show, Paramour, and selling a controlling stake in the Montreal-based entertainment giant to U.S. private equity firm TPG Capital and a minority stake to Shanghai-based Fosun Capital Group. Cirque is working with real estate developer and financier Witkoff Group to complete construction on the NFL attraction, with sports and entertainment presenter AEG on board as a financial partner. Despite becoming a global brand on the strength of its traveling and permanent circus shows, Cirque du Soleil in recent years has segued into film, TV and digital exploitation of its brand in partnership with Canada’s Bell Media, Saban Brands and 20th Century Fox Television, among others. { SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter | https://goo.gl/2kuap8 } Cirque du Soleil Stars: They’re Just Like Us! {Feb.23.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- We see them on billboards, commercials and cabs. We watch them onstage, showcasing talents honed since birth and showing off parts of their bodies that we’d keep covered in the shower if we could. Despite all this, what do we really know about Las Vegas’ Cirque du Soleil stars? What is beneath the elaborate costumes, that artful makeup and those incredible wigs? How do you know your neighbor isn’t secretly a Cirque performer who spends his nights contorting himself into impossible positions? To get the answers to these questions, Vegas Seven did the only thing they could do. They asked! # # # We found three stars, all born outside of the United States, who now make Southern Nevada their home: a ballerina from O, an archer from KÀ and an aerial performer from Zumanity. The trio is being featured in a new locals-focused “Get to Know Your Neighbors” campaign that shows them undertaking everyday tasks—picking up dry cleaning, ordering coffee, etc.—in full Cirque regalia. The inquiring minds at Vegas Seven wanted to know what their lives were like before Cirque, how they wind down after the curtain drops and if they cry at the end of Armageddon, when Bruce Willis pushes Ben Affleck back on the space shuttle and says he’d be damn proud to have him as his son. Yeah, stuff like that. So in the tradition of our favorite tabloids and documentary interviews, here’s our version of “Cirque du Soleil Stars: They’re Just Like Us!” Check out the advertisements here: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=9714 > { SOURCE: Vegas Seven | https://goo.gl/3ETYj6 } An Update on the Cirque Park {Feb.24.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- Through a variety of companies and countless projects, Gary Goddard has left an indelible and innovative mark on the amusement park industry. InPark’s Martin Palicki spoke with Goddard and Taylor Jeffs, Director of Design at Goddard Group, on recent and upcoming projects along with their take on paths for industry growth. While InPark’s conversation on theme park and experience design is informative (please, read it here: https://goo.gl/CnOqoC), it’s the question about an update on the Cirque Park that we’re more interested in... Q. One of the major projects you’re working on now is the Cirque du Soleil park under construction in Neuvo Vallarta, Mexico. Can you give us an update? Taylor Jeffs: Construction is racing along in Mexico while we continue to develop and innovate both here at our headquarters in Los Angeles, and at Cirque’s home base in Quebec. We conducted a mock-up of one attraction this past fall near Quebec City, inviting both industry colleagues and members of the public to attend, and the result was truly electric- I felt I was looking into the future. Gary Goddard: I call it an experience park instead of a theme park because it is filled with immersive experiences. It has theme park elements, rides and shows, etc. But the way we have configured things and the way it will be consumed is very different. The waterpark is conceived as a rainforest. There will be no red, blue and yellow slides. It will appear that things are built by tribes in a way only Cirque can do. There is an entire nighttime waterpark experience but it will revolutionize the evening experience for waterparks. We are working with Cirque to create something truly original and revolutionary. Taylor Jeffs: I really believe our Cirque du Soleil waterpark will dramatically shake things up when the first phase debuts (scheduled for 2019). We’ve creating an entirely new creative approach that could fundamentally change waterparks, and I really can’t wait to share that with the world. { SOURCE: InPark Magazine | goo.gl/CnOqoC } iGotcha Media to Exhibit with LG Canada at DX3 {Feb.27.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- iGotcha Media, an interactive agency specialized in delivering turnkey digital signage and interactive solutions, today announced that it will exhibit with long-standing partner LG Electronics Inc. Canada, a global leader in electronics, information and communications products, at the upcoming DX3 conference, Canada’s leading technology, digital marketing and retail event. iGotcha Media will showcase two innovative applications, incorporating LG Electronics Inc. Canada monitors, but only this one piques our interest: Cirque du Soleil Luzia application An immersive 60-second augmented reality (AR) experience. An interactive game where players become Luzia characters. Using a Microsoft Kinect motion sensor, a camera and real time tracking, players wear 3D masks to enter the world of Luzia. This application runs on a video wall comprising 2 x 2 LG 55VM5B-B TVs with borderless design and a 0.9 mm even panel bezel that enables an immersive and seamless viewing experience. “We are pleased to be attending DX3 with iGotcha Media for a second consecutive year,” says Scott Thomas, Vice President, B2B, LG Electronics Inc. Canada. “The iGotcha team has consistently developed remarkable applications that harness the incredible power of AR, VR and other innovative technologies. The sophistication and complexity of these applications offers an exceptional platform to demonstrate the full potential of our latest range of monitors.” “LG is a valued partner,” continues Greg Adelstein, President, iGotcha Media. “We are pleased to be demonstrating some of the latest AR and VR applications at DX3. As a provider of turnkey solutions, we appreciate the critical importance of integrating the finest quality monitors into our applications. For this reason, we are proud to be working with LG.” DX3 will be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, March 8th and 9th. iGotcha Media will be in booth #400. For more information, please visit https://dx3canada.com/. About iGotcha Media — iGotcha Media is an interactive agency specialized in delivering turnkey digital signage and interactive solutions, including: hardware, software, content development, application development, installation, network management and consulting. Solutions include: screens, kiosks, video walls, LEDs, RFID technology, gaze-tracking technology, payment solutions, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). We help our clients communicate with their customers digitally, generate new revenue streams, reduce costs and gather data. With offices in Montreal and Toronto, iGotcha Media’s clients include: Browns Shoes, Cirque du Soleil, National Bank of Canada, Nissan Canada, Reebok, Rockport, Rona, Toronto Congress Centre and Via Rail Canada. For more information, please visit http://www.igotchamedia.com. { SOURCE: PR Web | https://goo.gl/Sv6KFV } Cirque du Soleil, Crayola Experience team up for a month {Mar.01.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- Crayola Experience and Cirque du Soleil’s “La Nouba” are teaming up for a month at the Florida Mall attraction. Cirque Month Presented by La Nouba begins Saturday and runs through March 31. Visitors will be able to create “La Nouba” masks and airplanes, have faces painted and watch acrobats and musicians from the show in exclusive performances. “At the heart of Crayola Experience and ‘La Nouba’ is a strong sense of creative wonder and play, which makes the combination of the brands both effortless and very exciting,” said Jackie Vasquez, Crayola Experience’s marketing manager. On Saturday, participants can get an up-close-and-personal look at an assortment of “La Nouba” costumes and props. Visitors also can enter to win show Cirque du Soleil tickets at the adjacent Crayola Store. “La Nouba” and Cirque have been ensconced at Walt Disney World since late 1998. The show is produced in a standalone theater at Disney Springs. Cirque Month activities are included in regular Crayola Experience admission. Tickets are $18.99 online, $22.99 at the door. (Visitors under the age of 3 get in free.) For tickets, hours and info, go to CrayolaExperience.com. { SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel } --------------------------------------------------- Q&A –- Quick Chats & Press Interviews --------------------------------------------------- Meet Varekai’s Emily McCarthy and Sam Sturt {Feb.02.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- The age-old adage of running off to join the circus rang true for two British gymnasts who are now touring the world in a globally popular show. Emily McCarthy and Sam Sturt are two of the stars in Cirque du Soleil’s Varekai, which reaches the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle from February 15 to 19. I caught up with the pair in Paris after watching the spectacular, high-flying show, and, yes, it really was a case of running off to join that circus! In fact, Emily, who grew up in Wakefield, joined the show at the age of 16, straight from school, while Sam joined Cirque at the age of 18 after taking two years out from gymnastics. “Two months after finishing high school I went into Cirque,” explains Emily, who recently turned 21. “My parents knew I always wanted to go there but I didn’t expect it to happen so young. “The guy I worked with in competition was going to retire as he was going to join Franco Dragone (founder and artistic director of Dragone, and also known for his work with Cirque du Soleil and Celine Dion) so it was a case of `you’re leaving, what am I going to do?’ so I was going to wait in the gym but Cirque called at the same time he left. “This opportunity doesn’t just fall out of the sky, I had to take it. It was hard for my parents but they wouldn’t and couldn’t have stopped me. “I actually haven’t had a break since I was six.” That’s about to change for Emily though, as the Glasgow dates on the final leg of the UK tour of Varekai will be her last with the show. “There’s nothing set in stone as of yet, I would like to stay with Cirque, with the company, in a different show and setting, not an arena tour, maybe a resident show,” she tells me. “I’ll probably go home for a little bit. I’m just taking it as it comes. This is my first ever job.” Emily is one of the Slippery Surface Flyers in Varekai, while Sam, 24, is part of the Russian Swing Flyers – and their performances are astounding, as is the show as a whole. Having caught the show in December in Paris I would recommend it to all. It has everything you would expect from a Cirque spectacle, and then some. Varekai itself involves a cast and crew of 95 and it takes 22 trucks to transport the show from venue to venue. Once at each venue, it then takes 12 hours to assemble the stage, which includes a forest of 330 trees – eight of which are climbable. Varekai boasts an international cast, including our two performers from the UK and all put in hours of practise each day to keep their bodies and muscles in shape for their performances. “I finished competing in gymnastics and took two years out, aged 16,” says Sam. “I needed a break. I had started gymnastics at nine and I started to not enjoy my sport and started to not have fun and dreaded going to training. “But I was bored and didn’t know what to do and mum suggested going back into gymnastics and go and join the show, so it was down to her. “I started training again, teaching myself again, then I sent a video to a company and that’s how it all started. “I’ll always try and do a workout in the middle of the day – specific to my act or whatever I want to improve on, my handstands or posture. Then I’ll do a stretch to really loosen up my muscles. By the time it comes round to the show, rather than just immediately stretching the muscles and going straight on stage, I don’t really like that too much, I like to have a bit of time to adjust. “By the time of the show I’ll do a bit of cardio to get the blood flowing and because I’ve already done my big stretch I’ll just do a few limbering up exercises to make sure the muscles are ready to go. In the middle of the show we have time on the swings backstage to practise our skills before we go on so it’s fresh in your mind. “With new routines, you have to be confident in yourself and in the people pushing you and catching you. You have to be completely aware of what you’re doing.” { SOURCE: Chronicle Live | https://goo.gl/X82Pho } ONOD 5: Q&A w/Brian & Nicky Dewhurst {Feb.17.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- It’s a family affair with Cirque du Soleil’s “One Night for One Drop” this year at Zumanity Theater on March 3 at New York-New York. Husband-and-wife Nicky and Laetitia Dewhurst are co-writers and -directors of the 2017 one-night-only benefit production, and Nick’s father, Brian Dewhurst, who plays the clown in “Mystere” at T.I., Cirque’s longest-running Strip production, is ringmaster of “One Drop.” Robin Leach sat with father and son after a sneak-preview run- through Feb 7: Q. So, Nicky, did you set out with fun in mind, with Monty Python in mind and with your dad as ringmaster? Yes and yes! The whole thing came together when we thought about the key characters, and I talked to my dad about being part of the show before we really formulated what we were going to do. He said, “Yes, absolutely!” We went through a couple of scenarios. Then we landed on this concept of an old ringmaster going back in time to his youth and seeing himself. When I explained that, I was like, “This is perfect, you know. Brian is perfect for this role.” He’s been in the circus his whole life and knows exactly what that feels like. Q. Has your dad been the perfect student to take your direction? Actually, I’ve been incredibly impressed because I showed up the other day to fix his Wi-Fi, I walk in, and he’s got all his script laid out, and he’s reading his lines. He’s learning his lines, and I’m going, “Wow, it’s amazing that you … (Brian interrupts) Well, it only takes me twice as long to learn the lines as it used to, then I forget them, so I have to go over them again. Nicky: It’s definitely collaboration. We work very well together. Brian: He’s being generous. He probably wants something. But, seriously, he and Laetitia are doing an amazing job. Nicky: This is definitely a partnership my wife and I have. She’s incredible. When she’s not around for a session of directing, I suddenly feel a little insecure. I just get that “oh, where is she” because we bounce ideas off each other, and she has the same feeling when I’m not there. She goes, “Can you make it to the dance rehearsal?” even though I’m not dance, I’m not choreography. She likes to bounce ideas off me. Brian: “It’s not like that at all at home, though. (Laughs all around.) Q. Is there anything that Brian has tweaked? He’s just added his own little flare to moments where I’ll say, “This is what we want here, and we want that here.” And he’ll go, “Well, Nick, what if I just did this instead?” And I’ll go, “Oh yeah, of course — yep, perfect.” I can’t be specific because it happens so often, and that’s his genius. It’s happened twice. That’s his genius and our relationship, how we’re able to connect and still get to the final product. Q. The four previous shows have been heavy in imparting the seriousness of the message, yet you seemed to have brought fun to it even though it’s a delicate tightrope to walk. Brian: It’s smaller. It lends itself to seeing the acts without too much distraction because other places you could have people all over the place, but this theater brings everything more focused. Nicky: I’m not taking anything away from the previous shows because it is a very, very serious subject. They’ve done some beautiful presentations of representing that walk for water and those kind of things that are powerful and emotional. It is a difficult subject, and one of the things that we wanted to do to try to help this year is to have people leave positive but informed. They go out and say, “I had a great time, I get it, we’re here for the right reason, and we’re donating our money. We enjoyed ourselves.” Q. You’re not going to disappoint because you’ve got William Shatner and things coming down from the ceiling right into the audience. Brian: When in doubt, bring in a clown. Nicky: String somebody up from the ceiling and drop them in. Brian: We’ll send in the clowns right into the audience. Nicky: And we have our “Screw It — We’re Moving to Mars” singalong: This planet is a big disgrace There’s only one solution for the human race Let’s pack and get out of this place Screw it, we’re moving to Mars! No passport needed, there’s no immigration Everybody’s welcome at this destination Let’s all let go of our daily frustrations Screw it, we’re moving to Mars! { SOURCE: Robin Leach, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/MDYIyT } ONOD 5: Q&A w/Krista Monson & Jerry Nadal {Feb.17.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- It is one of the most ambitious Strip productions each year, and it takes almost a year, by a team of 300 volunteers, to pull off a one-night-only spectacular seen this time by only 1,250 lucky VIPs. Exactly two weeks from now on March 3, Cirque du Soleil stages for the fifth consecutive year its incredible charity show “One Night for One Drop.” “We have a massive logistical puzzle to fit everybody in,” Krista Monson, director of creation, told Robin Leach at a sneak preview rehearsal Feb. 7. “We have 63 artists, we probably have a crew of 80, and our designers and wranglers and travel immigration specialists to get everybody here, we probably have a total team of 300 people. Everyone is a volunteer — nobody gets paid.” The extraordinary experience supports safe water-access programs worldwide and includes charitable support for our Springs Preserve. Cirque founder Guy Laliberte created the international nonprofit to develop strategic and operating initiatives to address access to safe water. The four previous performances of “One Drop” have raised about $25 million. Said Krista: “This show has a spirit of freedom, comedy, wit and taking a chance, and there’s really cool writing.” That closing song is almost like a Monty Python episode! Exactly! Cirque is about taking a chance, that’s what we do, and that’s what Nicky and Leticia have done with this and with the whole narrative arc. It comes to a point where the emotion gets so high, we have no choice but to break out into a completely new feeling. We have a singalong — we want to keep people guessing about what the end will be, so, without giving away too much, it takes a look at the planet in a way that has that Monty Python comedy edge that you don’t expect in these lyrics. It’s almost inappropriate, but the end hits us. (In addition to the Cirque performers, Krista and her team have secured William Shatner, Grace VanderWaal, The Tenors, Redfoo, Lisa Loeb, the eight-man Brazilian drum-and-dance team Malevo, aerialists Duo Sky Angels and Miles Brown, who was a sensation in last year’s “One Drop” at The Smith Center. Jean-Francois Blais composed the original soundtrack.) Q. So the audience, in glittering gowns and smart tuxedos with a touch of blue, will let its hair down? We want everyone to leave having a blast. The audience will be singing as they walk out of the theater no doubt, we hope — even in their glittering gowns. Q. The song “Screw It — We’re Moving to Mars” … which came first, William Shatner or the number itself? “Move to Mars” came first, and, to be honest, it had nothing to do with the space theme that made us think of him. We wanted a man, an iconic figure who can actually tell Cirque du Soleil how to close the show. He didn’t hesitate for a split-second! I got an immediate callback saying that he’s interested. He was on a “Star Trek” cruise at the time, so we had to wait a couple of weeks until he got back on land, and after that it was, “Let’s jump on a call.” Leticia took him through the story arc. There was a bit of a pregnant pause at the end of the line, and he burst into laughter and said, “I can’t believe you want me to do this.” And we said, “The pleasure and honor is all ours, Mr. Shatner.” It is really interesting because he’s the old man of theater, and Grace is the young girl of theater. It fits with the theme, the idea of generations, the old ringmaster and the new ringmaster. Q. How many guest circus performers are joining in from around the world? We have six guest artists coming in from all over the world. You’ve seen our dance trapeze artist today. We have others coming in over a three-week span. We have a massive logistical puzzle to fit everybody in, including their training, plus the staging. Some of them have already been here. We know what they’re going to be doing. They will train on this stage. “Zumanity” has very small space, so some of them will train at the “Mystere” training studio, the “Ka” training studio. We have to coordinate our forces to make it all happen. Q. How many people under your control behind-the-scenes are moving all the pieces to make it work? We have 63 artists, we probably have a crew of 80, and our designers and wranglers and travel immigration specialists to get everybody here, we probably have a total team of 300 people. Everyone is a volunteer — nobody gets paid. Q. Has President Trump’s travel ban caused any hiccups? That’s a great question. We have an award-winning duo coming from Uzbekistan, and they were here in December. They have their travel visa, they’re ready to go, but it’s an interesting time right now for all of Cirque. They’re not on this list of seven countries, but it’s a funky time, and we’re recognizing that it seeps into all walks of life, right? I do know that the people who are here are appreciative to be here, and they’re thinking twice before they leave, that’s for sure. Q. With two weeks left, how confident and comfortable are you that you will pull all of this off? Or is it nails bitten down to the quick until the night of March 3? Our mandate is to reinvent and break formulas and do things in a different way, so that’s always chancy, and it always gets the fire under our butts and the adrenaline pumping. I’m not going to lie, but we’re confident, we’re working with extremely talented people, and they all feel the passion to do it all together. They feel the pressure as well as the passion. The timeline of that pressure and passion has a new equation now because it’s that much earlier. There are a lot of things that still have to come together. So over 200 volunteers for one night, it is extraordinary, absolutely amazing. The common thread is everybody is here to create a show that we’re all proud of, so everybody’s making it happen and doing whatever it takes. Q. You directed the first “One Drop” at “O,” and there have been three others since. Let’s run through them. We were immersed in water when I directed that first show. The concept was to celebrate Earth in its fragility, vulnerability and strength, so it was really a celebration of water importance. Our second show in the “Michael Jackson One” Theater at Mandalay Bay was how to cope in a world without water. The third show (at The Mirage) was a continuation of the walk for water by five women and how it affected each of them as we went into their personal stories. Last year our fourth show was at The Smith Center, and it was based on the personal story of our director, Hassan El Hajjami, of how he walked for water five miles every day as a child. These were surreal environments. So this time we are lighter — we’re flying free and having fun. After five years, it’s a different rhythm but the same theme with different directors. That’s the joy of it, to see the interpretations and take audiences over years one, two, three, four and five to a totally different experience. This one is fun, comedic and witty, yet still with that degree of excellence and messaging. * * * Jerry Nadal is the senior vice president of the Resident Shows Division at Cirque. He told me that he’s cautiously optimistic everything will come together perfectly March 3 despite the much-shortened preparation period. Q. And you’re having to cope with President Trump’s travel ban? Plus the logistics of 63 performers from different countries? There are things you can’t predict. Immigration is our game. Without immigration, we don’t have Cirque du Soleil. People from 50 countries work for us, so it’s a big deal for us. With so many artists, it’s the nature of entertainment. Certainly, it’s the nature and tradition of circus, people coming from all over the world. I think the rest of the world could take a cue from the way we operate. I always tell people that this is like running the U.N. except it works. We have people from all over the world, many different languages, and yet it happens every night onstage in the regular shows and certainly in this “One Drop.” This always amazes me that we pull this off every year for one night only. Q. Why this extraordinary volunteer commitment from the performers of Cirque to this one-night effort a year? Where does that come from? I think the performers, and the entertainment industry in general, are inherently incredibly generous. I’ve given speeches at universities to students who are graduating in this field: You join the ranks of people whether you ever become famous or not who give of their time and energy to pick a cause. It’s inherent of people in this industry, and Cirque du Soleil in particular, it’s been our goal to tackle the risk and water- related issues, and everybody rallied around that when Guy started talking about it. They see the difference they’re making, and we see the progress we’re making around the world and the different projects. For the amount of time they’re donating to do this, if we can make a difference in somebody’s life — somebody’s buying tickets to come see them, and they love to perform on top of that — I think it’s just a win-win for everybody. Q. How much have the four shows raised to date? Somewhere in the $24 million range. With a little luck, we’ll edge in on $30 million this year. It’s a smaller theater this year, but that was intentional. We wanted to completely change up — we always want to keep people surprised with what we’re doing. I think this is a beautiful venue at New York-New York. I think we established a message in the first year, let people know what the issue is. We live in the desert; it’s a serious issue for us. We forget about it because we can turn on the tap and get water at any time. Go to Lake Mead and just see how far down it is. You realize what’s going on. But this one, we’re having fun. There’s still a message, but I think we’ve established the message over the last few years; it’s still there but in a very humorous way. Q. Are you impressed with the performance turnout that Nicky and Laetitia have assembled? They’ve got so many connections. You look at Nicky’s father, Brian, he goes back how many generations, he was a Vaudeville performer, and his parents were performers. They’ve got connections throughout the entertainment industry and in the competitive gymnastics world. It’s unbelievable how they’ve tapped into the network around the world. { SOURCE: Robin Leach, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/ibMbw5 } Forbes: A Q&A w/ Guy Laliberte on One Drop {Feb.25.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- The One Drop Foundation was launched by Cirque du Soleil founder and billionaire Guy Laliberté in 2007. The non-profits mission is to make safe water accessible around the world. Ever since Laliberté created the world-wide entertainment phenomenon Cirque du Soleil, his core value was to make the world a better place to live. As soon as Cirque du Soleil started making money over 25 years ago, he started giving back. He created the One Drop Foundation to make a change in people’s lives around the world after learning that one person dies every 90 seconds from not having access to clean water. Not only a brilliant businessman, poker champion and creative force in the world of entertainment, Laliberté also became the first Canadian private space explorer. In 2009, his out-of-this- world mission was dedicated to raising awareness on water issues facing humankind on planet earth. Jim Dobson at Forbes Magazine spoke exclusively in Las Vegas with Laliberté about the inspiration behind his water charity, the outrageous luxury items he is offering up for auction at this year’s One Drop Gala, (speedboat racing in Lake Como, private jets and more) and his future plans fighting the global water crisis. Q. Can you tell me how One Drop began? Why are you so passionate about water preservation and access? “One Drop began to emerge at a time when I was starting to think of how to celebrate Cirque du Soleil’s 25th anniversary. I was thinking on how I wanted us to manage the celebrations; we could have fun and be proud of our international success, or we could look forward and pursue our dream of a better world that has always inspired us. I started researching and I quickly understood that almost every single issue facing the world today – poverty, health, education, social justice, economic development, environmental issues, gender issues, food security – all have one source in common: water. Addressing water-related issues has a ripple effect on all of these. The situation in each country is different but, to exemplify, when a poor family has access to safe water, all their members have better health, the parents can practice income-generating activities, the children can go to school because they don’t have to walk hours to fetch water, women don’t get harassed on the road to and from the well; These families can grow more crops in a year, sell surpluses at the market, etc. For all these reasons, water is a transformative force. On a more symbolic level, water is precious because it is the source of life. It has also always been a source of inspiration in my life. Water eases me. That’s probably why my objective is not to hammer people on the head with numbers – I’m more into soft medicine. But there’s one statistic that really struck me at that time: that a child died every 8 seconds from a water- borne disease. I thought this was unacceptable and that I had to do something about it. Today the statistic has improved by 11 times thanks to the hard work accomplished by the key actors of the sector, but the work is not completed and we will not stop.” Q. Tell me about the future plans for the organization? Any new initiatives you are excited about? “One Drop has bold plans both in terms of the impact it wants to achieve with its water access programs and in terms of acquiring the means to achieve them through partnerships and creative fundraising initiatives. This year will mark One Drop’s 10th anniversary. Just like for the 25th anniversary of Cirque, we don’t want to tap ourselves in the back and congratulate ourselves. We are celebrating this milestone by launching new programs with the goal of helping more people. We have just started a new project in the State of Rajasthan in India, we are in the planning phase of a third project in Burkina Faso, West Africa, and we will announce in the coming days our most ambitious program ever that is going to transform the lives of over 150,000 people in five Latin-American countries. These projects will bring together corporations, multilateral organizations, international NGOs and dozens of local partners, and represent investments of nearly $80 million. I’m an entrepreneur, I strive at achieving results, and quickly. In this case, more funding means more projects and more people helped, it’s a pretty simple equation. I am personally contributing $100 million over 25 years – a portion of which covers our administrative costs, meaning that the benefits coming from our fundraising initiatives go directly to the programs. I also use my creative instinct and know-how to move One Drop forward in a unique manner and to develop new ways of raising money. I like to think that One Drop is not taking a slice of the existing pie, but contributes to baking a bigger pie. That is particularly true of our initiatives in the poker sector with our $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop. We have other ground-breaking initiatives in development, notably signature auctions, that will see the light in the next two years. Q. What do you envision 10 years from now with the world’s water problem? “You ask that question to a dreamer. I will not quote scientists nor discuss generally admitted projections. I will simply say that it is in the present that we prepare the future. I am concerned by the fact that, still today, a child dies every 90 seconds from a water-borne disease and that hundreds of millions of people live in extreme poverty. We and numerous organizations and institutions do everything in our power today to put a lasting dent into these issues. Doing so, we have to make sure that the solutions we implement on the field are designed to address the issues of sustainability and that they are capable of empowering the local communities while developing their capacities and autonomy. I think we will have achieved our goal when the world will not need us anymore. It may take a little bit more than 10 years, but that’s the only horizon that I look up to. We can choose to wait and do nothing or move forward one drop at a time to make a difference in the long run. Q. Tell me about this annual charity event in Las Vegas? How did it come about and why Las Vegas? “One Night for One Drop is an extravagant event imagined by Cirque du Soleil and performed by its artists and guest performers. As its name says, it is performed for one night only, making it a rare and exclusive opportunity. For this fifth edition, it is around 100 artists and creators who are volunteering their time – nearly 20,000 hours! – to make magic happen at the Zumanity Theater in the New York-New York Hotel & Casino. The event raised over $24 M since 2013 for the tickets sales, through pledges and donations, and through the signature auction. The excitement of some of the packages the team creates are quite enticing for many individuals who are ready to spend on these unique items, knowing that the proceeds are going to the foundation. Las Vegas is the best place for an event like that. Like no other city in the world, the city is built in the desert and had to adopt creative solutions to deal with water consumption and preservation. The people of Las Vegas realize the importance of water and know that it is a privilege to open the tap and see it pour. Intuitively, they have an understanding of the difficulties that are facing people in underdeveloped countries. The other reason is of course the presence of seven Cirque du Soleil shows in the city and the amount of talent that participates in these shows; One Night for One Drop offers the artists and creators a chance to put forward a different side of what they can do by creating new numbers or by participating in a different way, for example when a dancer becomes a choreographer, or when a musician becomes a composer. The great relationship with our longstanding partner MGM Resorts International is also a central reason.” Q. The auction sounds fabulous. Tell me how the speed boat package in Lake Como came together. Have you experienced the race before? “Every year we look for packages that are ultra-exclusive and have the potential to generate a lot of interest. This year, a dear friend of One Drop who knows how to appeal to adrenaline seekers like me proposed me the idea. I was on board from the moment I heard about it. I have never experienced that type of powerboat before and I’m very excited to feel the extreme speed on the lake. It is the first time ever that a package like that is being auctioned off. This experience is certainly not for everyone but there are people who like to undertake such daredevil stunts… like me!…, and this item is for them.” Q. Finally, I would love to know your top three favorite places to visit in the world. I know you love spending time on your yacht Tiara, but any destination very special to you? “Obviously, I particularly enjoy the places where I have homes (among them Hawaii, Ibizi, Canada and the French Polynesian island of Nukutepipi, where he plans on building a solar powered private resort.) But I am a citizen of the world, and to choose only three would not bring justice to the scope of amazing places there are in the world. I am still in wonderment with discovering sometimes new places, sometimes old favorites all over again.” { SOURCE: Forbes | https://goo.gl/tUQfmB } LVRJ: Q&A w/The Tenors – One Night & Beyond {Feb.26.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- The Tenors are Las Vegas regulars. The award-winning Canadian vocal group first appeared in Cirque du Soleil’s annual “One Night for One Drop” at “Michael Jackson One” Theater at Mandalay Bay in 2014, and they’re back for the fifth installment Friday at “Zumanity” Theater at New York-New York. The Tenors, now Clifton Murray, Victor Micallef and Fraser Walters after Remigio Pereira and The Tenors parted ways in July, have performed during Andre Agassi’s Grand Slam fundraiser at Wynn Las Vegas, a David Foster & Friends concert at Mandalay Bay, and one year ago at The Smith Center. Murray, a fan of Cirque du Soleil and Las Vegas, answered questions over the phone Feb. 9 ahead of Friday’s “One Night for One Drop”: Q. You’ve performed in “One Night for One Drop” before. I watched your performance at Mandalay Bay in 2014. What brings you back to the benefit performance at New York-New York on March 3? “One Night for One Drop” is a highlight of the year and an incredible cause. The experience three years ago was incredible. We were moved by the show and Cirque du Soleil’s awe-inspiring artists and jumped at the opportunity to return. This time around, we get to sink our teeth into the creative aspect more and make it even more special and unique. Q. Can you give us a hint as to what your role will be in the performance and what guests and your fans can expect? We are helping to carry the story forward as 18th century horseman acting along the lines of “The Three Musketeers” mixed with “Interview With the Vampire” (laughs). We have a small role in the plot to carry the storyline. Q. Why is being involved in One Drop Foundation so important to you? For myself, I grew up in a fish resort in the middle of nowhere in British Columbia, and we were isolated and relied heavily on clean water. As we’ve traveled the world, the importance of clean water has really struck us. I have always had a strong respect for the environment and water growing up in British Columbia. We’ve seen in our charity work in Africa, in South Africa and Kenya, how clean water, a simple water well can transform a community and give them hope and cure disease. Fresh water can change the lives of so many people around the world. We’re honored to share the stage with Cirque and also use our voices and talents to give back. Q. Have you seen many Cirque du Soleil shows, and, if so, what is your favorite? I have seen a number of them, and I have loved every one. The power of Cirque is that no matter how you go into the show, you walk way being in awe of the miraculous ability to create a magical world. You ask yourself, “Did that really happen? Was it a dream of some kind?” “O” at Bellagio was my first Cirque show. It’s a magical show, and it stands out because of the water element. I also love “Love” at The Mirage. I am a big Beatles fan, and “Love” captured the comedy of the music and the era so beautifully. Cirque transforms from set to set and production to production, and I’m in awe of the creative abilities of the performers who devote their lives to blowing our minds. Q. What is new with you since I watched The Tenors at The Smith Center here in Las Vegas last Feb. 20, almost exactly a year ago, and met you for the first time post-show? It’s been a busy one (laughs). After the roster change and trials and tribulations, we are stronger and more convinced than ever of a positive, hopeful future. It hasn’t slowed us down; in fact, it has been a very busy seven months. We’re in the studio working on a new album. We have two tours lined up this year and gigs in Europe and Southeast Asia. We’ll be in L.A. this week for The Grammy Awards. The last year has put things in perspective for us. We realize that everything can go away overnight, so we don’t take anything for granted. It has been a new lease for us and reminded us not to rest on our laurels. We are reinventing ourselves and taking new opportunities like with Cirque and the stage acting this year. Q. There were four of you in The Tenors for many years, and now there are three. How has that changed the dynamic and your live performances? Three is obviously different than four. We rearranged a few things, it’s a different experience, but the power is still there, the passion and the power are still there. There is more space and new opportunities. It was a difficult time, but we have taken the positives and grown with them. We are feeling grateful for everything right now. Q. Are there plans to add a fourth member again? We’ll never say never, but right now we’re comfortable in three. We are arranging music in three. We’ve performed some 60 shows in the last few months, and the response is very strong. We don’t feel like we are missing anything based on the reaction from the audience. That is the litmus test. Q. What else are The Tenors working on right now? We have a couple tours in North America, a lot of moving parts with a lot of people. We have new dates listed on our website. It takes a lot of time to create a magical experience, and Cirque inspires us to come up with new ideas for our show. We’re inspired to take their ideas and run with them. This is an exciting time, so come see Cirque and us! Q. What is on your to-do list when you’re in Las Vegas when you’re not working on “One Night for One Drop”? “One Night for One Drop” is going to be a big family event — Mom and Dad, my sister and aunts and uncles and friends are coming to Las Vegas. We’re foodies. We love the restaurants and the sites. We’re staying a few days after to take it all in. And it will be great to reunite with William Shatner, too! I appeared in “Boston Legal” many years ago with the stars of the show, William Shatner and James Spader. I spent seven days on the set … my dad and William Shatner look a lot alike! It’s weird. { SOURCE: Don Chareunsy, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/JxwkVY } Michel Laprise on Soda Stereo Show Premiere {Mar.03.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- The Cirque du Soleil spectacular Sép7imo Día: No Descansaré premieres March 9 at Buenos Aires’ Luna Park stadium. It’s a huge show: after Sép7imo Día completes a three-month run of 5,000-capacity performances in Soda Stereo’s home town, a fleet of 20 trucks will carry the technical equipment for the tribute to the transcendent Argentine rock band — which includes a custom crafted stage — through Latin America. Five hundred thousand tickets have already been sold (fans bought 50,000 on the first day of sales in August.) More than 25 of the Buenos Aires dates are sold out. Cirque has just announced shows in three Mexican cities late 2017. And U.S. shows have not been confirmed, but are expected. True to the new acrobatic extravaganza’s rock roots, the ticket offerings include standing room on the floor — the first time in the history of Cirque du Soleil that part of the audience will be standing, and even at times mixing with with the performing artists. “Soda Stereo was known for loud music,” says Sép7imo Día director and writer Michel Laprise. “And it has to be loud.” The show’s soundtrack of Soda songs was produced and remixed from original masters by band members Charly Alberti and Zeta Bosio. Soda frontman Gustavo Cerati, a legend throughout Latin America, passed away in 2014. “I never met Gustavo Cerati but I think of him everyday,” Laprise, a Cirque veteran who also designed Madonna’s MDNA tour, said during a recent phone conversation from Buenos Aires. Laprise talked to Billboard about creating a show inspired by the recollections of those who witnessed the band’s rise in the 1980s and by input from the trio’s subsequent generations of fans. While he refers to Sép7imo Día as a “surprise party” that will remain a secret until next week, he revealed some details about the event that’s incredibly anticipated in Buenos Aires and beyond. Q. What people will the audience see when the lights go up in Buenos Aires on March 9? Soda Stereo’s songs are very metaphorical. You’re not going to see a documentary on stage about Soda Stereo: we invented a complete world based on the songs. The prologue goes back in time, but then we go to 2007. We pick up the journey of Soda Stereo where it stopped in 2007, and then we continue. It’s a show that’s based on the musical exploration of relationships, the relationships that people have with music and the band. We want to create a collective hallucination that’s visual and also vibrational. To me the relationship with music is so important and I am obsessed with it in this show. The visual part has to feel like music. At this point, it’s still like a big surprise party for our friends. Q. You are a Cirque du Soleil veteran and you’ve worked with Madonna. But you are not a rock en español fanatic and you weren’t familiar with Soda Stereo before signing on to direct this show. What was your approach? Within days of starting the project, the first thing I wanted to do was to go to Buenos Aires. I wanted to see where they grew up and where they performed. I was asking people in the streets, taxi drivers, everyone, about Soda Stereo. And people were saying, “Soda’s music is the soundtrack of my life.” The relationship people have with their music is very deep and very emotional. And that really helped me give me the essence of this project. Very often, you have such a deep relationship with music when you are around 16 or 17. There is that moment when you realize that things go wrong in a society and you want to change the world. Rock was and is feared by the political system; it’s the music of progress and change, and a lot of joy. Soda Stereo arrived right after the dictatorship [in Argentina]. They were on the cusp of the wave of self expression, of freedom. There could not be better timing for this than now. Q. How is that essence of the music expressed on stage? The presence of acrobats on stage is stronger than any other art. You take risk. There is an element of concentration and also your relationship to the environment is very special. It’s a perfect match with the music. It’s a show about music. We are doing it at night, and it’s so loud. We’ve never had such a strong sound. Usually when we do a show we have neighbors around the tent so we can’t push so hard. And in Vegas, older people, so no. But Soda Stereo was known for loud music. And it has to be loud. We have the quality of when you record in the studio but the feeling of live music. It was a lot, a lot of work for [Soda members] Charly and Zeta, and I’m so proud of the sound that they created. It feels like a live show, but polished like in a studio. I’m very proud of the sound; it’s very strong, it’s very physical. Q. Soda Stereo’s fans also influenced the making of Sep7imo Día. How did that work? It was very important that we be humble about the fact that when we started this we were not experts. It was important for the show to connect with the fans. We started Facebook Live sessions every month. There were 7-8,000 joining at first; then we had 80,000 people in one session. We met with the fans through the whole creation process. We opened the door of the [Cirque] creation room for the first time ever. They were so involved. Some people made a painting and sent it to me, they did photos, they wrote poems. What people were sending about their wishes or feelings allowed me to take the pulse of the band. I showed the results to the creation team and they said, ‘this is the show we’re making.’ This was not a marketing thing, it was about the creation of the project. Q. Gustavo Cerati died in 2014. In a symbolic way, this show marks his return to the public. How would you say he is present in the production? I never met Gustavo Cerati, but I think of him everyday. I think his spirit is there. It’s not like a tribute, but at the same time I did not ignore [his death]. I really embraced the fact that he’s not there. At times in the show we acknowledge that he’s not there. But the great thing about artists is that they are eternal. And this show is about that too – music is eternal. And music is a very powerful thing. Everyone is working very hard, harder than usual. I don’t think [with Cirque] we’ve worked this intensely before. But people have been waiting ten years for something from Soda, so we have to make it work. { SOURCE: Billboard | https://goo.gl/oTy2kR } ======================================================================= ITINÉRAIRE -- TOUR/SHOW INFORMATION ======================================================================= o) BIGTOP - Under the Grand Chapiteau {Amaluna, Koozå, Kurios, Luzia, Totem & Volta} o) ARENA - In Stadium-like venues {Varekai, TORUK, OVO & Séptimo Día} o) RESIDENT - Performed en Le Théâtre {Mystère, "O", La Nouba, Zumanity, KÀ, LOVE, MJ ONE, JOYÀ & Paramour} NOTE: .) While we make every effort to provide complete and accurate touring dates and locations available, the information in this section is subject to change without notice. As such, the Fascination! Newsletter does not accept responsibility for the accuracy of these listings. For current, up-to-the-moment information on Cirque's whereabouts, please visit Cirque's website: < http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/ >, or for a more comprehensive tour listing, visit our Itinéraire section online at: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?page_id=6898 >. ------------------------------------ BIGTOP - Under the Grand Chapiteau ------------------------------------ Amaluna: London, UK -- Jan 12, 2017 to Feb 26, 2017 Vienna, AT -- Mar 9, 2017 to Apr 17, 2017 Rome, IT -- Apr 30, 2017 to May 28, 2017 Sao Paulo, BR -- Early Oct to End Dec, 2017 Rio de Janeiro, BR -- Early 2018 Koozå: Melbourne, AU -- Jan 20, 2017 to Mar 26, 2017 Perth, AU -- Apr 13, 2017 to May 28, 2017 Singapore, SG -- Jun 12, 2017 to Aug 13, 2017 Kurios: Dallas, TX -- Feb 17, 2017 to Mar 26, 2017 Houston, TX -- Apr 6, 2017 to May 21, 2017 Winnipeg, MB — Jun 2, 2017 to Jun 25, 2017 Portland, OR — Aug 28, 2017 to Oct 8, 2017 Vancouver, BC — Oct 19, 2017 to Dec 31, 2017 Luzia: San Jose, CA -- Feb 9, 2017 to Mar 19, 2017 Seattle, WA -- Mar 30, 2017 to May 21, 2017 Denver, CO -- Jun 1, 2017 to Jul 9, 2017 Chicago, IL -- Jul 21, 2017 to Aug 20, 2017 Phoenix, AZ -- Sep 22, 2017 to Oct 22, 2017 Totem: Fukuoka, JP –- Feb 3, 2017 to Mar 19, 2017 Sendai, JP -– Apr 6, 2017 to May 21, 2017 Sochi, RU -- Jul 1, 2017 to Jul 30, 2017 Brussels, BE -- Aug 31, 2017 to Oct 29, 2017 Paris, FR -- Nov 2017 VOLTA: Montreal, QC -- Apr 20, 2017 to Jul 2, 2017 Gatineau, QC (Ottawa, ON) -- Aug 3, 2017 to Aug 27, 2017 Toronto, ON -- Sep 7, 2017 to Nov 26, 2017 ------------------------------------ ARENA - In Stadium-Like Venues ------------------------------------ Varekai: Birmingham, UK -- Mar 1, 2017 to Mar 5, 2017 Nottingham, UK -- Mar 8, 2017 to Mar 12, 2017 Glasgow, UK -- Mar 15, 2017 to Mar 19, 2017 Copenhagen, DK -- Mar 23, 2017 to Mar 26, 2017 Lyon, FR -- Apr 13, 2017 to Apr 16, 2017 Amsterdam, NL -- Apr 20, 2017 to Apr 23, 2017 Bratislava, SK -- Apr 27, 2017 to Apr 30, 2017 Bucharest, RO -- May 3, 2017 to May 7, 2017 Budapest, HU -- May 12, 2017 to May 14, 2017 Prague, CZ -- May 19, 2017 to May 21, 2017 Sofia, BG -- May 26, 2017 to May 28, 2017 Ljubljana, SL -- Jun 2, 2017 to Jun 4, 2017 Vilnius, LT -- Jun 8, 2017 to Jun 10, 2017 Oslo, NO -- Sep 1, 2017 to Sep 3, 2017 Malmo, SE -- Sep 6, 2017 to Sep 10, 2017 Helsinki, FI -- Oct 5, 2017 to Oct 8, 2017 Stockholm, SE -- Oct 11, 2017 to Oct 15, 2017 TORUK - The First Flight: Cleveland, OH -- Mar 3, 2017 to Mar 5, 2017 Philadelphia, PA -- Mar 8, 2017 to Mar 12, 2017 Hartford, CT -- Mar 15, 2017 to Mar 19, 2017 Dayton, OH -- Mar 22, 2017 to Mar 26, 2017 Taiwan -- Jul 6, 2017 to Jul 18, 2017 Japan -- TBA 2017 Australia -- TBA 2017 New Zealand -- TBA 2017 OVO: Rio Rancho, NM -- Mar 1, 2017 to Mar 5, 2017 Lubbock, TX -- Mar 8, 2017 to Mar 12, 2017 Cedar Park, TX -- Mar 15, 2017 to Mar 19, 2017 Laredo, TX -- Mar 22, 2017 to Mar 26, 2017 Corpus Christi, TX -- Mar 29, 2017 to Apr 2, 2017 Oklahoma City, OK -- Apr 6, 2017 to Apr 9, 2017 El Paso, TX -- Apr 12, 2017 to Apr 16, 2017 Tuscon, AZ -- Apr 17, 2017 to Apr 23, 2017 Cincinnati, OH -- May 11, 2017 to May 14, 2017 Columbus, OH -- May 17, 2017 to May 21, 2017 Pittsburgh, PA -- May 24, 2017 to May 28, 2017 Toledo, OH -- May 31, 2017 to Jun 4, 2017 Hamilton, ON -- Jun 7, 2017 to Jun 11, 2017 London, ON -- Jun 14, 2017 to Jun 18, 2017 Sunrise, FL -- Jul 13, 2017 to Jul 23, 2017 Miami, FL -- Jul 28, 2017 to Jul 30, 2017 Jacksonville, FL -- Aug 2, 2017 to Aug 6, 2017 Zurich, CH -- Oct 5, 2017 to Oct 8, 2017 Salzburg, AU -- Oct 18, 2017 to Oct 22, 2017 Leipzig, DE -- Oct 25, 2017 to Oct 29, 2017 Hamburg, DE -- Nov 1, 2017 to Nov 5, 2017 Berlin, DE -- Nov 8, 2017 to Nov 12, 2017 Mannheim, DE -- Nov 15, 2017 to Nov 19, 2017 Cologne, DE -- Nov 22, 2017 to Nov 26, 2017 Stuttgart, DE -- Nov 29, 2017 to Dec 3, 2017 Nuremberg, DE -- Dec 6, 2017 to Dec 10, 2017 Munich, DE -- Dec 13, 2017 to Dec 17, 2017 SÉPTIMO DÍA – NO DESCANSARÉ: Buenos Aires, AR -- Mar 9, 2017 to May 14, 2017 Cordoba, AR -- May 25, 2017 to Jun 2, 2017 Lima, PE -- Jun 17, 2017 to Jun 24, 2017 Santiago, CL -- Jul 19, 2017 to Aug 6, 2017 Bogota, CO -- Sep 3, 2017 to Sep 23, 2017 Mexico City, MX -- October 2017 Guadalajara, MX -- November 2017 Monterrey, MX -- December 2017 Select US Cities -- 2018 --------------------------------- RESIDENT - en Le Théâtre --------------------------------- Mystère: Location: Treasure Island, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Saturday through Wednesday, Dark: Thursday/Friday Two shows Nightly - 7:00pm & 9:30pm 2017 Dark Dates: o March 8 o May 6 - 10 o July 12 o September 9 - 13 o November 8 Special Performance Dates: o Thu, Apr 6, 2017 o Thu, Aug 17, 2017 o Fri, Nov 24, 2017 o Fri, Dec 29, 2017 o Sun, Dec 31, 2017 | 4:30pm & 7:00pm 2017 Single Performance Dates: o Fri, Mar 03 | 9:30 pm o Sat, Mar 11 | 7:00 pm o Sun, Mar 26 | 7:00 pm o Sun, Apr 02 | 7:00 pm o Sun, Apr 09 | 7:00 pm o Sun, Apr 16 | 7:00 pm o Sat, Jun 17 | 7:00 pm o Sun, Aug 13 | 7:00 pm o Sun, Oct 01 | 7:00 pm o Fri, Oct 20 | 7:00 pm o Sun, Oct 22 | 7:00 pm o Fri, Dec 08 | 7:00 pm "O": Location: Bellagio, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Wednesday through Sunday, Dark: Monday/Tuesday Two shows Nightly - 7:30pm and 9:30pm (as of Aug 12, 2015) 2017 Dark Dates: o April 5 - 9 o June 11 o August 2 - 6 o October 8 o November 29 - December 12 La Nouba: Location: Walt Disney World, Orlando (USA) Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday Two shows Nightly - 6:00pm and 9:00pm *** CLOSING DECEMBER 31, 2017 *** Zumanity: Location: New York-New York, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark Sunday/Monday Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm KÀ: Location: MGM Grand, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Saturday through Wednesday, Dark Thursday/Friday Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm LOVE: Location: Mirage, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Thursday through Monday, Dark: Tuesday/Wednesday Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm MICHAEL JACKSON ONE: Location: Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Two Shows Nightly - Dark: Wednesday/Thursday Schedule: 7:00pm & 9:30pm on Friday, Saturday, Monday & Tuesday 4:30pm & 7:00pm on Sunday JOYÀ: Location: Riviera Maya, Mexico Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday One/Two Shows Nightly: 9:00pm (Weekdays) 7:00pm & 10:15pm (Fri, Sat & Holidays) PARAMOUR: Location: Lyric Theater, Broadway, New York City Performs: Wednesday through Monday, Dark: Tuesday *** CLOSING APRIL 16, 2017 *** One/Two Shows Daily: 2:00pm (Wednesday) 7:30pm (Thursday & Monday) 8:00pm (Friday) 2:00pm & 8:00pm (Saturday) 2:00pm & 7:00pm (Sunday) ======================================================================= OUTREACH - UPDATES FROM CIRQUE's SOCIAL WIDGETS ======================================================================= o) WEBSERIES -- Official Online Featurettes o) VIDEOS -- Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds --------------------------------------------------- WEBSERIES: Official Online Featurettes --------------------------------------------------- *) C:LAB WORKSHOP SERIES In the Workshops series - Presented by C:LAB - Cirque du Soleil explores a new acrobatic repertoire by reaching out to athletes from other disciplines. o) EPISODE 14: TRAPEZE January 10, 2017 In this episode, acrobats from different disciplines explore new Trapeze techniques! LINK /// < https://youtu.be/rKIRnvrwoz4 > o) EPISODE 15: US SKI TEAM COLLABORATION February 21, 2017 In this episode of the Workshop series, the Cirque du Soleil team joins up with the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA). See what happens when skiers try their skills at a Cirque du Soleil bootcamp. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/qC6QNc2BNDM > *) VOLTA - "FREEDOM MOMENTS" "Freedom Moments" is a new series about how the artists from Cirque du Soleil's NEW 2017 Big Top show, VOLTA, found their free. VOLTA is a story about the FREEDOM to choose and the thrill of blazing your own trail. Get up close and personal with VOLTA's artists, discover their "Freedom Moments” and share yours with #FindYourFree! o) EPISODE 1: ELENA SUAREZ - BALLERINA January 6, 2017 Freedom = dance for VOLTA's s ballerina Elena, who says being onstage is “the best feeling in the world”. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/23DBoIQU6cI > o) EPISODE 2: DINA SOK - TIGHTWIRE January 13, 2017 In this week’s “Freedom Moment” meet Dina, a tightwire artist. He finds freedom in the middle of nature, back home in Cambodia. LINK /// < https://goo.gl/ofJdE1 > o) EPISODE 3: RIKKI CARMEN - FREE RUNNER January 27, 2017 In this week’s “Freedom Moment” we meet Rikki, a free runner. He finds freedom by escaping the 9 to 5 and hitting the road, traveling wherever his heart takes him. LINK /// < https://goo.gl/NpU2IL > o) EPISODE 4: PAOLA FRASCHINI - ROLLER SKATER February 3, 2017 In this week’s “Freedom Moment” we meet artistic roller skater, Paola! She expresses what she does to feel connected with herself. LINK /// < https://goo.gl/ikvrm6 > *) LUZIASELF - THE WEBSERIES LUZIAself is a collection of portraits highlighting the unique stories, passion and dedication of some LUZIA artists. o) EPISODE 3: CONTORTION February 1, 2017 In episode 3, LUZIAself with our contortionist Aleksei Goloborodko! Get to know how he became the most flexible human in the world! LINK /// < https://youtu.be/OO1afRLMNgc > o) EPISODE 4: SONGS AND POLE DANCE February 15, 2017 In episode 4, LUZIAself with Majo and Diana! Get to know those "sisters" and what brings them together. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/kOjjFyqK7b8 > o) EPISODE 5: ADAGIO March 1, 2017 In episode 5, LUZIAself with our Adagio performers: Kelly and Grzegorz! Here's a sneak peek at how they create their Adagio number. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/RzWuB84Ym5s > *) AMALUNA – OUR ISLAND AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL Discover “Our Island at the Royal Albert Hall” and get an insider look at Cirque du Soleil's London adventure! o) EPISODE 1: NEW SURPRISES FEBRUARY 1, 2017 Discover “Our Island at the Royal Albert Hall” and get an insider look at our London adventure! LINK /// < https://goo.gl/cpNkmt > o) EPISODE 2: THE PREMIERE! February 8, 2017 Go behind the scene of our amazing Premiere in London with our 2nd webisode of "Our Island at the Royal Albert Hall" LINK /// < https://goo.gl/l8GO44> o) EPISODE 3: REJUVINATION February 24, 2017 Are you wondering how Amaluna artists spend their free time between shows? Find out in this next installment of "Our Island at the Royal Albert Hall" LINK /// < https://goo.gl/pQcouk > --------------------------------------------------- VIDEOS: Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds --------------------------------------------------- *) CIRQUECAST CirqueCast is a Vodcast (that’s video podcast) for Cirque fans by Cirque fans – featuring artist interviews, Cirque headlines, and the inside scoop to your favorite Cirque du Soleil shows! Join your hosts José Pérez (TheChapiteau), Richard “Richasi” Russo (Fascination!), Ian Rents (Hardcore Cirque Fans), and Dario Shame (a big 'ol fan), as we bring you a behind-the-scenes look into Cirque du Soleil, complete with discussions and the latest Cirque news. o) EPISODE 14 – Review of Paramour February 13, 2017 On this episode of CirqueCast, we review Cirque du Soleil’s Paramour! After Paramour’s recent closing announcement, we decided to fly to NYC to catch the show before it’s final curtain drop. Watch now to find out what we thought of the show! LINK /// < https://youtu.be/dZLkyuR5WZc > *) OTHERS... o) The Making of Duo Straps - Mystere February 3, 2017 Discover the stunning new addition to Mystère by Cirque du Soleil. This male-female duo strap act celebrates the power of a woman and the relationship with her king. The process celebrates the creative and artistic relationship with the acrobatics. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/KsxGKvEEX4g > o) VOLTA: Meet the Costume Designer February 6, 2017 Watch renowned designer Zaldy talk about his creative process behind the VOLTA show costumes. VOLTA tells a spellbinding story about the freedom to choose and the thrill of blazing your own trail. Inspired in part by the adventurous spirit that fuels the culture of action sports, the show weaves the adrenaline rush of acrobatics into a visually striking world driven by a stirring melodic score. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/rehxMqqY4Nk > o) Training an Artist - Kooza Trickster February 7, 2017 Watch how Barry Lowen went through an artistic process and training to become the Trickster in Cirque du Soleil's show Kooza. In a traditional circus homage, KOOZA combines acrobatic performance and the art of clowning, while exploring fear, identity, recognition and power LINK /// < https://youtu.be/41ioIf4p9OE > o) Cirque at the BAFTA's February 12, 2017 Cirque du Soleil and Stephen Fry open The British Academy Film Awards 2017 ceremony on BBC One LINK /// < https://youtu.be/rfqI89ILrLc > o) Valentine's Day Makeup Ideas by Cirque and MAC Cosmetics February 13, 2017 Discover how Isabelle, Head of Makeup at Cirque du Soleil recreates glamorous Valentine's day ideas with MAC Cosmetics. Watch the tutorials and try them out for a dazzling look. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/cctcUA7XnwE > o) Welcome to Cirque du Soleil February 17, 2017 We are Cirque du Soleil - we currently have 20 productions worldwide, have brought wonder and delight to more than 160 million spectators in over 400 cities, in 60 countries, on 6 continents. LINK < https://youtu.be/fBBGpDZODTY > o) How to Clean Makeup Brushes, Sponges, and Puffs February 20, 2017 Isabelle Fink, Makeup Team Supervisor at Cirque du Soleil shows us the best techniques on how to care for and clean our makeup brushes, sponges, and puffs. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/zbpDJQj0ACc > o) Cirque Workouts - Ab Exercises by Cirque du Soleil February 23, 2017 In this video series, Eric Saintonge gives us training tips to improve our workout sessions. This video focuses on how to properly train your abdominals. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/a9ogOH-IQBc > o) 4 Masquerade Makeup Ideas by Cirque du Soleil February 27, 2017 In this makeup video tutorial, we use Cirque du Soleil show-inspired makeup and costume techniques to create 4 different masquerade makeup looks, which are also perfect for celebrating Mardi Gras! Choose between being the Belle of the Ball, the Carnival Comedienne, Your Royal Majesty, or the Feathered Fairy! LINK /// < https://youtu.be/cirS-VT-YCU > o) ONOD5 Preview During The Climate Reality Project March 2, 2017 Al Gore and The Climate Reality Project hosted the sixth-annual 24 Hours of Reality broadcast and we produced a stunning performance highlighting One Drop & One Night For One Drop. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/1jTnvI1apNw > o) ONOD5 Trapeze Act Rehearsal March 3, 2017 One Night for One Drop is an annual philanthropic event in which Cirque du Soleil cast and crew donate their talent and time to create a unique and breathtaking production for one night only in support of One Drop, an international non-profit organization dedicated to providing access to safe water. In 2017, we will be celebrating the 5th edition at the elegant yet intimate Zumanity Theatre at New York-New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. This unforgettable production will benefit those without access to safe water around the world as well as local projects in Southern Nevada focusing on innovative educational programs. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/2MHwAv5HBRw > ======================================================================= FASCINATION! FEATURES ======================================================================= o) "It's Bouncy-Bouncy Boing-Boing Time!" A Review of Cirque du Soleil/NETFLIX's Luna Petunia Written By: Nicole Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) o) SPECIAL /// "When an Investment Firm Buys a Circus" By: Michael Lev-Ram, Fortune Magazine A Special to the Fascination! Newsletter o) "Casting Q&A's - Meet a Mentor, Part 1 of 3" Edited By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) ------------------------------------------------------------ "It's Bouncy-Bouncy Boing-Boing Time!" A Review of Cirque du Soleil/NETFLIX's Luna Petunia Written By: Nicole Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) ------------------------------------------------------------ Iconic Montreal, Canada-based performing arts organization Cirque du Soleil has achieved more success in its 30-plus year history than most companies ever dare to dream about, but the company isn’t interested in resting on its laurels; it’s continuing to evolve and expand globally at an ever-increasing rate. In December 2012, Cirque du Soleil caught the attention of the kid’s entertainment industry by launching Cirque du Soleil Média, a joint-venture with Canadian broadcast heavyweight Bell Media. The plan was to expand the Cirque brand and its values beyond live shows into new and original youth- and kid-targeted content for television, film and digital platforms. The joint-venture’s first project brought L.A.-based Saban Brands (Power Rangers, Julius Jr., Popples) into the mix in February 2014 to help launch a property that would include a TV series, consumer products line, and interactive content. Eight months later, Cirque and Saban introduced Luna Petunia to the world at MIP Junior (the worlds showcase for kid’s programming), and revealed that an animated TV series of the same name was in development with Bradley Zweig (Sid the Science Kid, YoGabbaGabba!) as showrunner. The series marks uncharted waters for Cirque du Soleil Média, but the company was confident its collaboration with Saban would move the property in the right direction and open up a wealth of opportunities. Jacques Méthé, president of Cirque du Soleil Média, said: “We are committed to delivering refreshing, beautifully artistic entertainment and we are confident that Luna Petunia will do just that.” And we’ve been waiting to see what Luna Petunia was all about ever since then. Netflix acquired the series and on Friday, December 9, 2016… it began airing! BUT WHY PRE-SCHOOL ANIMATION? ----------------------------- Back in 2015, Kidscreen visited Cirque headquarters and spoke with Daniel Lamarre (president and CEO of Cirque du Soleil), Jacques Méthé, Elie Dekel, (president of Saban Brands) and Brian Casentini (Saban SVP of development and production) to answer that very question. When Cirque was initially exploring ways to bring the magic and emotion of its live shows to a larger audience through mass media, it kept coming back to animation for kids. “We’ve been toying with the idea of [animation for kids] for many years. We think it is the right way to attract a new demo,” Lamarre said.” It’s very important to expand Cirque’s target demo beyond those who can afford to go to its live shows in person. ”And when it came time to pinpoint a specific age group, Cirque and Saban both agreed that preschool was a sweet spot. “For the majority of the world, adults are the most aware of the Cirque brand,” says Casentini. “So we felt that because moms and parents control the media preschool kids consume, launching a preschool brand first made a lot of sense.” In addition, Saban’s global success with its own brands and Zweig’s experience in developing and producing TV series were big factors in Cirque’s final decision. “Bradley’s openness to another creative process was a big factor for us,” notes Méthé. “A lot of people when they interact with us see the surface, the acrobatics and colors. He cut straight to our DNA and values. He asked right away, ‘Who is Luna and what drives her?’” With positive early reactions across the board from broadcasters at MIPCOM, and a deal secured with NETFLIX, a global distribution partner, Cirque and Saban are confident in the potential of the IP. “It’s exciting and frightening because we have to deliver,” says Méthé. Lamarre concurs. “The risk is that we have to produce a series that will not only be appealing to viewers, but that will be a good demonstration of our brand, too,” he says. “Our consumers have very specific expectations of what Cirque is all about, and it’s very important that moms recognize the creativity in the new brand. Obviously, we don’t want to disappoint them.” With delivery of the series, Cirque and Saban are also exploring ways to extend Luna Petunia to interactive, digital, learning and other consumer products. “As the creative is developing, we are paying a great deal of attention to how the storylines, characters and visuals can translate to the other platforms,” says Dekel. One of the ultimate goals, according to Lamarre, would be to launch an immersive live experience and bring the property back to what Cirque does best. “The greatest reward we could have, and it would be a first for us, would be to establish a character that has enough impact to integrate into a live show.” MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE, POSSIBLE ----------------------------- Luna Petunia, in spite of being inspired by Cirque du Soleil, has little if nothing to do with a circus at all. The series follows the adventures of a bubbly, headstrong six-year-old girl, Luna, who lives in the real world, but plays in a dreamland where she learns to make the impossible possible. [Her name is derived from the petunia on her headband.] Luna is supposed to teach young viewers the importance of believing in themselves and in the wonderful things their minds and bodies can do. And though she’s full of happiness and optimism, the oft-quoted Sheryl Sandberg expression “I wish every little girl who was told she was bossy to instead be told that she has good leadership skills” rings true. Luna is bossy, sometimes to an annoying level. She is a know-it-all, orders her friends around, allocates tasks (often with nary a please or thank you, but boy does she say “sorry” a lot), and volunteers her friends and herself up for the most outrageous tasks without even asking them first. She “does first and asks questions later”. Luna is impulsive, and often causes more harm than good. She makes assumptions and does whatever she wants, whether she’s been advised to or not. However, she DOES own up to her mistakes readily and easily, and apologies and forgiveness abound. The narrative begins at Luna’s birthday party. After her friends leave, she receives a special gift from her mischievous aunt Zuzu — a mysterious box adorned with a petunia and filled with unusual toy characters. The box is also inscribed with the phrase, “Make the impossible possible today…feel your heart, touch your mind, and swirl away!” When Luna speaks the words, she is magically transported to the world of Amazia, where the toy characters from the box come to life and accompany her on wondrous adventures. There’s... o) Sammy Stretch – A Steampunk-esque accordion-limbed character appearing to resemble Microcosmos and Nico from Kurios, fused with Rodrigue from Varekai (lightbulb on the head, under his hat). [In the development of the show’s characters, Méthé says a number of Cirque artists were called on for creative input. “A bunch of them [were] involved and have produced all sorts of elements that [went into their development]”, he said.] Sammy is tall and helpful, and he loves to be the center of attention. He’s fluent in gibberish (Cirqueish), likes to sing along to his own accordion music, and enjoys riddles and jokes. o) Bibi Bubbles – Superficially resembling Clara from Kurios, she is vaguely absent minded, and has a little bit of a muddled, confused personality. She can travel by bubble, and they come pouring out her ears when she thinks (IF it suits the plot). She is timid and scared of heights and new things. She is very knowledgeable about Amazia, but sometimes the facts come out muddled or just plain wrong. o) Karoo – The “preschooler” of the group, Karoo is a kangaroo / koala hybrid. Originally he was supposed to have a kangaroo tail and springs for legs (and be named Koalaroo), but presumably tweaks to the storyboards resulted in Karoo- with no tail, somewhat artificial-looking legs that do not seem to match his body, an overall koala-like appearance, a kangaroo pouch, and meltingly huge eyes reminiscent of Mort from the Madagascar franchise. He is, for all intents and purposes, Elmo of Amazia. He speaks somewhat incomplete, toddler-ese English in the third person (“Luna love Karoo? Karoo love Luna!”). He’s tactile, kinetic, and bouncy- figuratively and literally (“It’s bouncy- bouncy-boing-boing-time!”) He’s super affectionate and loves to “huggle” everybody. As for unique environments, Amazia is a magical fantasy world of bright colors and fantastical creatures. It is a place where the Impossible becomes Possible. It has an ecosystem regulated by a rainbow, which controls the amount of glitter produced by the Glitterflies’ wings. This glitter regulates the growth of Fluffy Flowers. And Fluffy Flower seeds turn into Jelly Trees, and Jelly trees make up Jelly Forests, which are crucial homes, and food sources, for the animals and other beings in Amazia. There are also forests of balloon trees, and at least one volcano. The series also features a mood willow tree that changes a character’s hair color to suit their mood when they walk under it. Wiggly lily pads also react to characters’ emotions. It also rains popcorn, butter, and salt. All of which happen in twenty features across eleven episodes in season one: o) Episode 1: “Amazing Amazia Rainbow” -- On her birthday, Luna receives a magic toy chest, which leads her to the enchanted world of Amazia and new best pals Bibi, Sammy, and Karoo. o) Episode 2: “The Fuzzlings / Now We’re Cooking” -- When three frightened fuzzlings go astray, Luna and her pals team up to find them. / Luna tests her leadership skills while filling in for Chef Zesto. o) Episode 3: “Grumpy Volcano / Shadow Show” -- Cranky volcano Ashton refuses to erupt into fireworks, so Luna tries to cheer him up. / Luna plays detective after her three pals’ shadows disappear. o) Episode 4: “Star Dust / Popcorn Storm” -- Luna offers to clean Amazia’s dusty stars, but can she restore their twinkle all by herself? / Luna helps Sammy conquer his fear of popcorn storms. o) Episode 5: “The Crystal Queen / Seahorse Hero” -- At the queen’s welcome party, Luna “assumes instead of asks” and chaos ensues. / When Bibi loses control of her giant seahorse, Luna leads the rescue. o) Episode 6: “Lost Land / Boom Shine” -- Unaware that boy wizard Melvin has cast a spell, the crew gets stuck in Lost Land. / Zoom Shine tries a risky stunt after her showoff cousin goads her. o) Episode 7: “The Show Must Go On / Great Train Chase” -- To create a show for the Queen, the Amazia pals try some teamwork. / When dizzy Karoo makes Sammy’s train run wild, a special crew flies to the rescue. o) Episode 8: “Wishy Swishy Wishing Well / Painting Day” -- Karoo causes the wishing well to explode, but Luna has a plan to fix it. / On Painting Day, Karoo mopes until his pals show him how to make art fun. o) Episode 9: “Take Off Your Dancing Shoes / Dream Boat” -- To get shy Sammy to dance, Bibi gives him magic shoes, but is magic what he really needs? / Unable to sleep, Luna joins her pals on a dream boat trip. o) Episode 10: “Sammy’s Grammy / Melvin’s Magical Mix-up” -- The crew helps Sammy entertain his quiet grandma during her Amazia visit. / When Melvin’s magic fails, the pals must convince him to accept their help. o) Episode 11: “Happy Jollydays” -- Luna learns all about Jollydays in Amazia, but can she save the holidays after she breaks the Jolly Clause rule and makes her pals’ gifts disappear? EVERYTHING IS AMAZIBUBBLES? --------------------------- PBS.org has outlined what they consider to be important features to look for when selecting high-quality children’s programming – Activities Worth Repeating, Constructive Ways to Resolve Conflict, Strong Male and Female Characters, Positive Role Models, Characters From Around The World, Lessons that Foster a Love of Learning, Humor That Appeals to Parents and Children, Characters From Different Age Groups, and Few or No Commercial Messages. These points are touched upon with details of how they pertain to Luna Petunia. ACTIVITIES WORTH REPEATING -- Most effective when there is an educational component, such as letters or sounds. There are recurring themes within the show, but they mostly are silly, nonsensical (i.e. Luna exclaims “That’s amazing!!” and Sammy corrects "That’s Amazia!"), and not necessarily beneficial except to establish a culture within the group of friends. Bibi’s scrapbook is a helpful plot device from time to time, but its appearance is intermittent. The most noticeable repeating theme is “Stop, breathe… and believe!” I feel that this message is pretty much the ONLY thing Luna Petunia has going for itself. Mindfulness (breathing exercises, meditation, and calm-down- techniques) is lately finding a home among families, classrooms, and caregivers of small children to help little people deal with big emotions. This is working very well, and is becoming an important part of many children’s lives. It is nice to see a show that helps promote mindfulness among its characters, even in the rushed, shallow, and reduced capacity of Luna Petunia. CONSTRUCTIVE WAYS TO RESOLVE CONFLICT -- This is another of the very few points Luna Petunia has in its favor (aside from being a fluffy distraction that will potentially keep a kid occupied for 20ish minutes.) Plot devices and conflict abound in the show. However, resolutions are often hurried, shallow, glossed over, and unrealistic. For example: during one event involving teamwork, two members of the group experience sudden and out-of-the-blue self-doubt and a lack of self-confidence to perform their required tasks. Luna instructs them to take a deep breath, tells them she believes in them, and amazingly and instantaneously, their self-doubt is shed, and they are restored to their previous, self-confident, self-assured selves, and the crisis is resolved. Also, conflict, and various crises are resolved with equal rapidity, AND often whimsical magic. I feel that preschool aged children, while satisfied with the overall resolution of the conflict, will not necessarily gain any benefit from watching a “know-it-all” (good leadership skills?) glittery little girl always figure out the correct solution on the first try, and complete it magically. STRONG MALE AND FEMALE CHARACTERS AND POSITIVE ROLE MODELS -- This show is so “girly”. It’s themed in glitter, rainbows, flowers, gems, cutesy fantasy animals, more glitter, ponies, fuzzy things, butterflies, a queen, beings called Glitterflies, and more glitter. The only male main characters are Sammy Stretch (to my mind, an only- vaguely-helpful buffoon), and Karoo (essentially Luna Petunia’s version of Elmo). Luna is the only character who seems “strong” - she is confident (sometimes to a fault), a go-getter, brave, and willing to help. She’s also too headstrong, a bit bossy, and really a complete know-it-all, but much of that is to drive the plot. Certainly empowering for a young girl, no doubt, but mildly irritating to adults who appreciate the well thought out complexities of quality children’s programming. CHARACTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD -- Amazia is inherently fantastical, so everything about it is diverse. The main characters are a steampunk-esque robot man, a silly bubble-girl, and a koala-creature, teamed up with a spunky little girl. Other fantasy characters show up resembling cats, caterpillars, octopi, and a myriad of other beings. Diverse? Indeed. Realistic diversity illustrating what children might encounter in their daily lives? Maybe not. Certainly not to the degree of diverse immersion as Sesame Street. LESSONS THAT FOSTER A LOVE OF LEARNING -- There is essentially zero educational value to the show. Lessons about expressing feelings, self-esteem, and creativity are important, but shows like that are a dime a dozen. I feel that a quality preschooler’s television show delivers supplemental educational lessons integrated in: colors, shapes, patterns, matching, letters, words, and so on. Foreign language is often integrated easily into children’s shows - with a plethora of Spanish-teaching shows out there, Cirque could have made a bit of a splash while teaching French. However, the only foreign language in the show is a Cirquish-gibberish, translated by Sammy. This rubbed me the wrong way, since preschool aged children are already working hard to learn actual languages, sometimes more than one. How does having a made-up nonsensical language appearing in a television show help anything? Though the success of Dr. Seuss books probably proves me wrong, but granted, I never enjoyed those personally anyway. I feel that the lack of an educational component is a big sticking point I have with this program, and a big hit against it overall. HUMOR THAT APPEALS TO PARENTS AND CHILDREN -- It’s there in small amounts. For example, the main character, moments after having been welcomed to Amazia and greeted by three new friends, is told dramatically that she must pull a magical rainbow out of a pond by the end of the day, or Amazia will never have any glitter, the “ecosystem” will crash, and Amazia as we know it will never be the same! “No pressure!” the characters chirp. Quirky. But, these instances are few and far between within the show. CHARACTERS FROM DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS -- Essentially nonexistent. We never see Luna’s parents or any siblings, and aside from Sammy’s frequent mentioning his Papa (to quote something pertinent he once said in a gibberish – Cirqueish – language, and then translate), families are kind of not mentioned. Luna has an aunt Zuzu (who is suggested to have spent time in Amazia herself, as characters often refer to how much Luna reminds them of “Z”), but she is seen once briefly in the opening episode, and never again. FEW OR NO COMMERCIAL MESSAGES -- Being on Netflix makes this one easy to accommodate. However, there is rumored to be a merchandise line of Luna Petunia products, including books, toys, and clothing, in development. COMPARED TO... -------------- While watching Luna Petunia, I found myself making comparisons to PBS’s Dragon Tales. Dragon Tales utilizes essentially the same plot device: young children (a brother and sister) travel to a magical land inhabited by dragons and other magical beings. There is a trio of primary dragon friends, and preschool situations are presented. Similar lessons to Luna Petunia are addressed, including trying new things, problem solving, and feelings. However, while watching Dragon Tales, I perceived a sense of calm stability, patience, and sensibility. Also, the conflicts are built upon more slowly, and crafted more carefully. Luna Petunia seems to set the conflict off like a glitter-filled neon-colored rocket, and drags you along with it, slipping like a stone across the surface of the plot, before resolving it abruptly with a fantastical solution. The resolution at the end of each episode is comforting, as is the lesson of “Breathe... and believe {in yourself}”. In this day and age, many parents are using mindfulness (breathing, calm down techniques, meditation) to help manage big emotions in their little people, so it is refreshing to see this utilized. If Cirque du Soleil wanted creative and imaginative, they achieved their goal. But I feel overall, if it’s simply an entertaining show, a good distraction for kids for a period of time, without any real “meat and potatoes”, it’s simply a surfeit of sugar. I feel it is lacking in structure, and is just over-the-top pink and glittery. As a mother to a young son, I find myself disappointed that it is SO pink and powdery and glittery and fluffy. Not that there’s anything wrong with boys and pink by any means, but it appears to be a strongly stereotypically “girly” television show, and that I find disheartening. So much more could be done with this show to make it more educational, less fluffy, and more appealing to young boys, or less-girly girls. And I feel there was so much untapped potential in marrying Cirque du Soleil with children’s entertainment. French language could have been integrated (a great nudge to the roots of CdS), interactive coordination activities could have been included (“Jump! Stand on one foot! Touch the ground!”), acknowledging the acrobatics that have made CdS so famous, and introducing children in gymnastics, movement, and dance. They could have explored various kinds of dance, similar to how The Backyardigans (Nick Jr.) explored a different style of music in each episode. I feel that this was a wasted opportunity for Cirque du Soleil to make the most of their Cirque du Soleil Junior brand and interest children in activity, fitness, and circus-arts. ------------------------------------------------------------ "When an Investment Firm Buys a Circus" By: Michael Lev-Ram, Fortune Magazine A Special to the Fascination! Newsletter ------------------------------------------------------------ Cirque du Soleil’s new owners are trying to turn a quirky circus into a strategically savvy business. It’s no small juggling act. The following is a collection of two articles (an exposé and Q&A) written by Michael Lev-Ram and published in Fortune Magazine, diving into the new TPG owned Cirque du Soleil. LAS VEGAS --------- I’m seated on the inner edge of a cerceau—a thin, white hoop, suspended from the ceiling by a wire. My fingers tighten around the sides of the apparatus as my legs dangle, frighteningly far from the ground. I try to look casual, but it’s hard to feel at ease while perched, sans harness, on this raised-up roost. My mind wanders to the fine print on my insurance plan. (Are aerial hoop accidents covered under workers’ compensation?) That doesn’t exactly help me relax: I’m still recovering from the earlier routine when I hung from the hoop by my hands while spinning spasmodically. “How high up was I?” I ask when I’m finally lowered back to terra firma, or in this case, a foam-filled, bright-blue gym mat that makes me wobble with every step. “Probably just about 10 feet,” answers James Guilford, a project manager with the renowned live-entertainment company Cirque du Soleil. We are in a training room deep within the labyrinthine backstage belly of O, one of Cirque’s famous Las Vegas–based shows. The makeshift gym is full of exercise machines, trampolines, and trapeze swings—mere toys for the likes of Pierre Cottin, the ponytailed, French-born acrobat who is also on hand, assisting with my clumsy initiation to the cerceau. To my right, high up on the wall, is a poster of Cottin’s blond, beaming girlfriend, Christina Jones, an Olympic synchronized swimmer. Both are Cirque du Soleil performers. And I’m pretty sure neither has any body fat. Clearly I am out of my element. But so are most of the people Guilford guides through these aerial adventures. And Guilford is a bit out of place himself. He’s a former educator whose mandate at Cirque is to head a new offering called Spark—essentially a corporate team-building retreat with more mystique and off-the-charts production values. Companies like Google, Adobe Systems, and Kmart Australia have already sent employees through Spark, which includes hands-on acrobatics training with Cirque talent. That makes Guilford part of an unusual, ambitious experiment. He’s helping transform a quirky, bohemian circus founded by street performers into an optimized, monetized, strategically managed global entertainment brand. The private equity firm TPG Capital seized the opportunity to invest in Cirque du Soleil and boosted its potential. Cirque already has the global part covered: The performing powerhouse, founded in 1984 in Quebec, now encompasses 10 “resident” shows in the U.S. and Mexico, including O, and eight traveling productions, which tour to 130 cities around the world. Even as traditional circuses continued a long decline—in January, after a run of 146 years, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced that it would soon shut down—a stunning 10 million people saw a Cirque show last year. Its extravagant productions are famed for their mixture of daredevil acrobatics and lowbrow clown comedy, pop hits and New Agey compositions, and daring design. (O, for example, takes place in and above a 1.5-million-gallon pool of water.) But lately Cirque has branched out in unprecedented and potentially lucrative ways: There are plans to launch a theme park and a kids’ entertainment project, and to design an interactive NFL store in New York’s Times Square. There are—of course—plans to go big in China. In short, the big top wants to crack into the corporate big league. And leading that charge is private equity firm TPG Capital, which acquired a majority stake in the company in 2015 from its cofounder, Guy ­Laliberté, for an estimated $1.4 billion. In a world of spangled leotards, Cirque’s new managers are the suits. The year before the acquisition, Cirque reportedly brought in $845 million in revenue. (By comparison, all the shows on Broadway combined brought in $1.37 billion last season.) But TPG has an extensive résumé when it comes to helping artistic enterprises grow—and it has much grander plans. Since the transaction, it has made sweeping changes, moving quickly to identify and exploit opportunities that may have been anathema to Cirque’s original managers, who preferred a more loosey-goosey approach to scaling the company. Not that many of those managers are around to see the changes. Over the past 18 months, TPG has replaced nearly all the executive leadership. (No former employees contacted for this story, including Laliberté, agreed to talk with Fortune.) The private equity giant cleaned up Cirque’s financial practices and implemented data analytics and discipline where once there was mostly instinct. And, yes, the new team found ways to cut costs. “Cirque needed to make some major changes,” says Daniel Lamarre, its CEO since 2006 and one of a few executives who were asked to stay on post-acquisition. “We couldn’t continue to do the same thing and hope for different results.” CEO Daniel Lamarre is one of the few executive holdovers from Cirque’s pre-acquisition days. “I passed from a regime of a one-man show... to feeling it’s a partnership,” he says. Indeed, Cirque’s shot-from-a-cannon rise had stalled in recent years. The Great Recession hit Cirque hard, especially where it really hurt: its high-profit-margin Vegas productions. A slew of setbacks ensued— including the early closure of its underperforming show Viva Elvis and the company’s first fatal onstage accident, in 2013, when an aerialist fell to her death during a show in Las Vegas. That year the company had its first-ever layoffs, letting about 400 of its 5,000 employees go. The ongoing struggles partly explain why Laliberté sold control of the circus (he retains a 10% stake). The stakes are high for TPG too, as evidenced by the fact that co-CEO and cofounder Jim Coulter and TPG partner David Trujillo joined Cirque’s board. “This was a very sensitive transition, where we had to make sure we didn’t impact the creative genius that is Cirque,” says Coulter. His team sees Cirque as a way to play a bigger, counterintuitive trend: a yearning for live entertainment in a digital era. Recent surveys show that millennials, in particular, increasingly prefer to spend money on selfie-worthy experiences that screens and gadgets can’t provide. (Selfie breaks, by the way, are now built into Cirque shows.) If TPG successfully expands the circus, it could create the go-to platform for live entertainment, a creator of not just Cirque-branded shows but events and experiences for all sorts of corporate clients. Just as notably, it could rewrite the playbook for expanding creative entities without choking off their artistic inclinations. Cirque is as inventive as companies come, as befits a business founded by people whose prior experience included breathing fire and playing the accordion. As a person ­familiar with both companies puts it, “They bought a circus. Not a figurative one, but a literal circus.” It’s TPG’s job to make sure nobody compares management to a bunch of clowns. MONTREAL -------- Nestled in this city’s working-class Anjou borough, not far from one of Montreal’s biggest shopping malls, is a warehouse that stores thousands of heads. They are the pates of Russian gymnasts, Mongolian contortionists, and West African dancers. The busts are replicas—exact down to the distance between the eyebrows and the diameter of nostrils—of the heads of Cirque du Soleil performers. For decades, the making of these molds was part of Cirque’s onboarding process. New hires sat still as plaster was painstakingly shaped around their heads. The resulting sculptures were labeled with each performer’s name and used by the costuming department to create perfectly proportioned, individualized headpieces (think feathery masks and fuzzy clown hats). They were also used for repairs: When someone’s chapeau tore on tour, it would be sent to headquarters, where milliners patched it up, using the model to get the exact fit. Some of these heads are also on display at Cirque’s mazelike main building, a few miles away, where the entryway is guarded by a giant metal sculpture of a clown shoe. The decapitated decorations, glued to tiny pedestals that protrude from the hallway walls, give the office the feel of an ancient multicultural mausoleum. “It does throw you a little bit when you round the corner and see this wall of heads,” says Trujillo, the TPG partner most involved in Cirque’s day-to-day operations. “As you get closer, you realize those are all individual people. That leads to the question, ‘Who are these people and why are they here?’?” TPG is one of the few investment firms that could ask such questions without making artistic types feel like second-class citizens. Founded in 1992, it has a sturdy track record of investing in companies in tech (Uber), retail (J. Crew), and airlines (Continental). But it’s also known for taking stakes in creative fields, where its portfolio includes movie studios, the giant talent agency CAA, and Fender Musical Instruments, creator of rock stars’ guitars. (U2’s ubiquitous frontman, Bono, is a TPG “special adviser”—and a board member at Fender.) And it has the resources to make a big impact in the thin- margin entertainment world: TPG has more than $74 billion under management. It was in 2014 that TPG first began mulling big investments in live events, which Trujillo calls “DVR-proof.” Not long thereafter, a center-ring opportunity came along: The firm’s contacts at CAA passed the word that Cirque was looking for a buyer. (Cirque and CAA already had a working relationship based on bringing third-party intellectual property like music and movie characters to Cirque’s live shows.) Despite its relatively small size, Cirque was attractive. At a time when most circuses were fading sideshows, Cirque had a distinctive, edgy feel, along with remarkable capabilities virtually unique in live entertainment. Its leaders had developed a global network for recruiting contortionists and clowns. They had engineered some of the most elaborate stage sets ever built. They had unmatched expertise at dyeing belt buckles and designing shoes for little people and decking stretch-velvet leotards with 4,000 tiny mirrors and 155 crystals. But that creative rigor hadn’t translated to the corporate side. While Cirque’s leaders were seasoned, they weren’t au courant. Cirque wasn’t utilizing digital marketing tools. Ticket pricing systems hadn’t been upgraded. Financial reporting was exasperatingly sporadic. In deciding whether to make an offer, Trujillo traveled to Montreal for a management presentation led by Lamarre. As the Cirque team outlined a multiyear strategic plan, Trujillo had a realization: This basic corporate exercise was “something the company had historically not done.” HOW TO MANAGE CREATIVE CHAOS TPG IS WALKING A FINE LINE AT CIRQUE DU SOLEIL, STRIVING TO DEVELOP IT AS A BUSINESS WITHOUT SNUFFING ITS CREATIVE SPARK. THE PLAYBOOK: o) USE DATA ARTFULLY -- Dynamic ticket pricing, which TPG introduced at Cirque, can help arts organizations get the optimal revenue from shows when they’re hot, while moving more tickets at discounted rates during slowdowns. o) EXPAND JUDICIOUSLY -- Cirque had expanded its brand to businesses that had a public presence, but no profits (e.g., nightclubs). TPG’s ideas generally have clearer potential for revenue and for generating wider publicity. o) LET THE BEAUTIFUL WEIRDOS BE WEIRD -- TPG thoroughly overhauled the executive team on Cirque’s business side, but it left the chief creative decision-makers in place—and doesn’t interfere with them. That’s partly a recognition that the core of a successful creative brand is distinctive and hard for outsiders to improve. TPG turned elsewhere for reassurance. The firm enlisted Jonathan Tétrault, then a managing partner in McKinsey’s Montreal office, to do some market research. Tétrault calculated Cirque’s Net Promoter Score, a measure of the loyalty of its customer base. “The brand of Cirque du Soleil was extremely strong,” says Tétrault. “Even people who have not seen the shows have respect for the brand.” For TPG, that helped tip the balance. The firm recruited partners— Chinese investment group Fosun and Canadian pension fund Caisse de Dépôt—and made its best offer to Laliberté, who owned the vast majority of the company. After a bidding process handled by Goldman Sachs, the founder handed the reins to the TPG group, and the acquisition was finalized in July 2015. (Laliberté has since invested in real estate and other ventures, including a cemetery that he says will someday allow visitors to use holograms and other whiz-bang technologies to “interact” with the deceased.) Almost overnight, the circus began to change. Unprofitable distractions like nightclubs and restaurants were killed off. In their stead, TPG identified a list of new revenue opportunities and improvements to Cirque’s traditional shows. But to execute that wish list, Cirque needed the right processes and people in place. One of them was Tétrault. The new owners coaxed the exec to leave McKinsey and become Cirque’s new chief operating officer. In his gray jacket and slacks and slicked-back hair, Tétrault is a near-­caricature of the more buttoned-up management team at Cirque. (Buttoned-up by comparison, at least: Laliberté famously donned a foam clown nose in 2009 when he traveled to space—having paid $35 million to spend 12 days aboard a Russian Soyuz.) Each of the new “suits” brought along a team and a set of new tools— table stakes at most corporations but largely foreign to Cirque. Kristina Heney, Cirque’s first-ever chief marketing officer, brought in the company’s first digital and social-media marketing programs and a new customer-relationship management system. Stéphane Lefebvre, a longtime public company exec, came on as CFO. Because Cirque had been a founder-owned business from inception, he says, it had never adopted disciplined accounting practices. “When you have only one guy owning the company and a report is due on Monday, it doesn’t matter if you send it on Monday,” says Lefebvre. Suffice it to say, that’s no longer true. The sweeping management changes inevitably led to tension between the leotards and the suits, as Lamarre admits. With his tinted blue glasses and polka-dot ascot, he’s a visual reminder of Cirque’s more colorful culture. But the new structure has given him more freedom. “I passed from a regime of a one-man show, which was Guy, to feeling it’s a partnership,” Lamarre says. That said, he lauds Laliberté as a “creative genius” whom he still calls on to get advice on the artistic front. Just as important, the creative part of the business has largely been left to the artists. “I said to TPG at the time, ‘You can come in my office 10 times a day if you so desire. I’ll give you all the financial and operational information you need,’?” Lamarre says. “‘But you shouldn’t go in the creative department, because that’s the core of the company.’” TPG has kept Cirque’s creative leadership intact, from the longtime head of costume and creative spaces, Benoît Mathieu, to Bernard Petiot, vice president of casting and performance. INSIDE TPG's BAG OF TOYS TPG HAS A HISTORY OF INVESTING IN BRANDS WITH CREATIVE DNA AND LOYAL FOLLOWINGS—THE KIND THAT CAN BE TRICKY TO TURN INTO EFFICIENTLY RUN BUSINESSES. o) DUCATI -- In 1996, TPG bought a 51% stake in the iconic Italian motorcycle maker. It helped the firm focus on new markets and streamline manufacturing. Ten years later, TPG sold off Ducati; it is now owned by Audi AG. o) STX ENTERTAINMENT -- New movie studios are a rare commodity. But TPG and its partners think they have a winning formula. STX, founded in 2014, focuses on easy-to-produce, mid-budget films and has deals to distribute in China. o) FENDER -- After shelving plans for an IPO, the guitar-maker became majority owned by TPG and its partners in 2013. It hired a new CEO, named Bono to its board, and allowed customers to order guitars online for the first time. o) J.CREW -- Retail has had a rough decade, and J. Crew is no exception. TPG, an investor since 1997, took it public, then led a 2011 buyout to take it private. Reportedly it recently slashed the value of its stake by more than 80%. o) CAA -- TPG recently upped its investment in the talent agency, becoming its majority owner. Under TPG, CAA has brought in fresh leadership, cut costs, and invested heavily in new areas like sports and licensing. o) VIKING CRUISES -- Last year TPG sank $250 million into a minority stake in the high-end river- and ocean-touring company. The plan? To accelerate Viking’s growth—particularly in China—and strengthen the company’s balance sheet. Other arts leaders are watching the transition with interest. “One understands the need for professionalization,” says Patrick Willingham, the executive director of New York’s Public Theater and the former president and COO of another creative entertainment company, Blue Man Productions. “You have to give as much power to those voices who are advocating for the art as to those who are advocating for the revenue.” That tightrope walk is visually apparent at Cirque’s headquarters. Yes, there are former McKinsey consultants crunching numbers. But there are also vats of dye and spools of glittery string and wigmakers and acrobats. And heads—but not quite as many of them. These days the wig-and-hat busts have been outsourced, and plaster is obsolete. Each new performer’s head is now scanned by computer. The files are sent to a firm outside Montreal where an automated cutter chisels models out of a synthetic material called Renshape, and only as needed. “It’s a lot lighter, a lot faster, a lot cheaper, and a lot more stable,” says Mathieu, the costumes chief. “And we don’t need to make them all the time.” SAN FRANCISCO ------------- TPG’s spacious headquarters in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District feels a world away from Cirque’s colorful campus. The understatedly swank office is where most of the firm’s biggest deals have been drawn up, from its 1996 purchase of motorcycle maker Ducati to its 2011 leveraged buyout of J. Crew. And its proximity to Silicon Valley could yield big benefits for Cirque. “The circus has been an incredible showcase of human capacity for centuries,” says Brent Bushnell, CEO of Two Bit Circus, a startup that develops interactive, tech-centric experiences for corporations. “But entertainment needs to evolve.” TPG, which has made major investments in Uber and Airbnb, among others, is well-positioned to help Cirque do that. Late last year, when Cirque brought Luzia, a show inspired by Mexican culture, to San Francisco on tour, co-CEO Coulter invited his tech exec friends to see it—and to talk about what virtual reality could add to the experience. The prospect of a pipeline to such wizardry energizes Cirque’s managers. “We’ve never had that before,” Lamarre says. And the circus is already strengthening its ties with Facebook and boosting its YouTube presence. It will take more than technology, of course, to engage with younger audiences. Cirque has prioritized creating more shows that incorporate recognizable characters and music (replicating hits like the Beatles- themed Love). Brands matter too. Cirque’s new show, Volta, which launches in Montreal in April, will include action sports like snowboarding and BMX. It will also have a first-time “content partner”: energy drink Red Bull. Bill Hornbuckle, president of MGM Resorts, which hosts six of Cirque’s shows, says such evolution is critical. “There will always be a place for Cirque and its core product,” he adds. “But Las Vegas does not need another circus show.” One place that TPG believes does need a circus show is China. It’s already the country of origin for many Cirque performers, but the circus wasn’t previously able to crack the market. TPG is an old hand there, having invested in China for more than 20 years: Its notable deals include buying a stake in computer maker Lenovo and partnering in 2014 with China’s Hony Capital to launch STX Entertainment, a movie studio focused on mid-budget films. Such connections are now turning into deals. Later this year, Cirque will launch a touring show in six cities across China, including Beijing. And sometime in 2018, a show unique to China will open in Hangzhou. The company also plans to create its own local school for technicians (a sizable chunk of the staff for any Cirque production). “China has the potential to maybe double the size of this organization,” says Lamarre. TPG has other growth tricks up its sleeve, and its ambitions sound vast. Coulter compares Cirque to another entertainment company that started small. “Just as Disney... started in animation but became so much more over time, Cirque has the ability to do so much more,” says Coulter. Whether or not Cirque reaches that scale, one question is how long TPG will keep its stake: Private equity firms, after all, are structured to look for an “exit.” Cirque’s prospects as a public company are murky. But given its new China ties, it’s more likely that it would be bought by a Chinese investor or conglomerate. A cash-rich acquirer like Dalian Wanda, for example, which has already snapped up Legendary Entertainment, the company that licenses the Ironman competition and Dick Clark Productions, could easily buy Cirque. And China has huge cities that could host permanent shows and use them to lure tourists, as Las Vegas does today. However it plays out, the Cirque that emerges 10 years from now will look very different from the company that was Cirque just two years ago. Change can be disorienting, but it’s preferable to ceasing to exist. Cirque may have the DNA to survive where traditional circuses failed—and no circus in memory has had such a deep-pocketed, aggressive backer under its tent. DANIEL LAMARRE -------------- Nothing could have prepared Daniel Lamarre for his gig as chief executive officer of Cirque du Soleil — a company that employs wigmakers and contortionists and yes, a CFO. The live entertainment giant, profiled in the current issue of Fortune, has wowed audiences for decades with its death-defying stunts and extravagant sets and costumes. But what goes on behind the scenes has also been quite colorful. For most of its history, Cirque’s corporate strategy relied heavily on trying crazy new show concepts and investing in the occasional pet project (think unprofitable restaurants and nightclubs). That vision was set by one man: Guy Laliberté, Cirque’s co-founder and long-time leader. In 2001, Laliberté brought in Lamarre as head of “new ventures,” promoting him to CEO of the company a few years later, even as Laliberté remained the company’s creative spirit, not to mention financial owner. A much bigger change came in 2015, when Laliberté sold the company to a trio of investors led by private equity firm TPG Capital. Since then, Cirque has expanded in new ways and brought in a new executive team. Lamarre is one of a small handful of execs who have stayed with the company through this most recent twist. (Laliberté, who had majority ownership before the acquisition, retains a 10% stake in the company and has moved on to other projects.) That puts the CEO, who now answers to a board of directors mostly made up of its new owners, in a unique position to tell Cirque’s story, past, present and future. As Fortune found out, it’s a story worth telling. The excerpt below, from Fortune’s recent interview with Lamarre, has been edited. Q. You had run a variety of businesses before [coming to Cirque]. What was different here when you first arrived? Everything. It’s funny because I joined the company and I said ‘Guy, I’m a quick learner, give me a couple of months and I’ll figure it out.’ And he was laughing at me. He said ‘Daniel, this is more complicated than that.’ And what makes it complicated even today is that there’s no benchmark. I cannot compare our business to Live Nation or anybody else. So you have to learn the Cirque business model. And that’s what makes it difficult. Every time we have a new employee it takes time for someone to understand our business model. Q. In the years leading up to the acquisition, what was going on? What led to the decision? First of all, I joined the company at a perfect time. Because that was the time where the brand was totally ready to explode internationally. So I would call my first 10 to 12 years our golden age. We were trying a lot of crazy ideas, and they seemed to be working. And then after those golden years, then came [the global recession of] 2008 and it was more difficult for us, like everybody else. We had to streamline the company and all of that. And that’s when Guy started to think about sharing the ownership of the company because he thought that it was getting more and more difficult to support the growth of the organization. And he started feeling that if we could find the right shareholders it could bring Cirque to the next level. After a few years of talking about it one day he said, ‘I’m ready.’ Q. Can you describe what you see as the biggest, the most profound changes to the company since the acquisition [by TPG Capital and two other investors]? First and foremost, the one thing I would like to say is that the bread and butter of this organization is creation. We have protected the entire team in creation. And to me, that was very, very important. I said to TPG at the time, ‘You can come into my office ten times a day if you so desire, I’ll give you all the financial information you need, all the operation information you need. But you shouldn’t go into the creative department because that’s the core of the company, and I don’t want them to be disturbed by any changes we are making.’ So that’s the first thing. Then, from the business standpoint, obviously TPG brought a financial discipline that was different than what we had before. Because basically now I’m reporting to a board. We have to do reports, monthly financial reports and all of that. And then we very quickly realized that from a business standpoint I needed to enhance our core team. [Since the acquisition, Cirque has brought in a new CFO, COO, head of HR and the company’s first-ever CMO and head of China.] So now I think I have the best team to go to the next level. And that was my motivation to stay at Cirque. Because I truly believed that from this organization that had reinvented the circus arts, that now we were at the stage when we could become a true live entertainment organization. Meaning that moving forwards we’re not going to do only circus shows but we are now looking at other artists’ content that we can develop. [Cirque is now developing an interactive store in Times Square for the NFL and a live entertainment “experience” for kids, among other new projects.] Q. As all these new ideas are bubbling up and getting financed, there’s always the risk of diluting the brand. So what won’t Cirque do? First, we’re a live entertainment organization. And that’s what we will continue to do. In terms of the brand, it’s not for me to decide what I stand for. It’s the consumers that are telling us what they expect from Cirque du Soleil. And it has some limitations. Because for them, they see a big wand, they see acrobatics, they see new technology, they see a lot of different things. But if I go too far from that, then they will not recognize us. So it means that, for instance, there are activities that we’re going to develop, the NFL experience being an example of that, where we won’t put our brand. If we want to broaden and diversify our content, we have to be aware that there are things that we can do under our brand, and there are other things that we cannot do with our brand. Q. Going back to when the transaction took place: what was the biggest change for you, personally? It’s very, very different. Because Guy and I have been working together for fifteen years, so we were talking every day basically. But Guy was traveling all the time. He’s barely ever in Montreal. So in terms of the difference, for me it’s that I passed from a regime of a one-man-show, which was Guy, to feeling it’s now a partnership. I feel I’m a partner in the organization. I feel my key players are partners. And I feel that TPG, Fosun, La Caisse, Guy [the current owners of the company], we’re all working in partnership. Now, I have people getting excited again. When we announced the transaction, everybody was very scared. ‘Are we going to lose our soul? Are we going to stay in Montreal?’ A normal employee of Cirque du Soleil is fueled by new shows. If there is something happening in the studio, everybody feels good because it’s a concrete sign that the company is doing well. Right now we’re working on three new shows. And we have more to come. So the employees say, ‘Oh my god, they were serious. TPG was serious when they told us that they wanted to develop the company.’ { SOURCE: Michal Lev-Ram, Fortune | https://goo.gl/MfAM1M } ------------------------------------------------------------ "Casting Q&A's - Meet a Mentor, Part 1 of 3" Edited By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) ------------------------------------------------------------ To make an artist for one of Cirque’s productions, it takes a talented individual who is open to new experiences – and veterans who can guide the way through those new experiences. Cirque du Soleil has assembled some of the most well-known and respected collaborators in their fields – coaches, choreographers, creators, composers and others – to help artists achieve their goals. And through a series of interviews on their casting website, we meet some of them. Like the “Meet the Artist” series of Q&A’s we recently published, the “Meet a Mentor” set are equally fascinating reads – even more so! We’ve collected all 11 mentor interviews for you to peruse in this series, which, due to the page count, we’ll publish in three parts, beginning with Part One: André Simard (Acrobatic Research and Development), Bernard Petiot (Vice President, Casting and Performance), and Boris Verkhovsky (Director of Acrobatics and Coaching). # # # ANDRÉ SIMARD Acrobatic Research and Development Specialist A true icon in the world of the circus arts, André Simard hails simultaneously from the world of elite sports (as a former gymnast), art (he was a fine-arts student) and the circus (with years of teaching acrobatics to his credit). In addition to training hundreds of artists and developing or helping to develop scores of aerial acts at Cirque du Soleil and elsewhere, André was able to draw on the skills he acquired in these three worlds to take the swinging trapeze to a whole new level. In 1987, the act he created for Nouvelle Expérience revolutionized aerial high-flying. In the early 1970s, André was pursuing a career with Canada’s national gymnastics team while also studying at Montreal’s Institut des arts graphiques. After taking part in several world championships, he represented his country at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. When he was subsequently named national coach of the men’s gymnastics team, André continued to teach basic acrobatics to clowns and street entertainers at Montreal’s Centre Immaculée-Conception. Home to Quebec’s first circus school, the Centre would give rise to the world- renowned National Circus School a few years later. In 1987, André retired from his elite sports career to devote himself full-time to his new passion: developing spectacular acrobatic and aerial acts for the circus. For nearly a decade, he trained artists at the National Circus School in Montreal. His reputation earned him invitations to teach budding performers outside the country, including at France’s École nationale du cirque, to supervise internships and to speak at events around the world. It was during this period, nearly 20 years ago, that André began working with Cirque du Soleil, and in 1997 he became a member of the organization’s permanent creation team. In large part, his success in the circus world can be attributed to his personal and artistic sensitivity along with his exceptional ability to help artists master their discipline. But even more importantly, André is able to show artists how to get their emotions across to spectators. One of André’s major technical contributions to aerial acrobatics was his invention in the early 1990s of a secure safety line which revolutionized the aerial world by allowing artists to execute difficult acrobatics in optimal safety and comfort. That contribution was key to raising the bar for aerial acrobatics around the world. The man to whom the new circus arts owe the “aerial silk" discipline developed many of the aerial acts currently featured in Cirque du Soleil shows worldwide. “What fascinates me the most at Cirque is the constant opportunity for innovation and renewal we have here." Q. WHAT IS YOUR ROLE AT CIRQUE DU SOLEIL? I design human acrobatic performances, mainly aerial, for new shows in creation. Q. WHAT IS CIRQUE’s APPROACH TO ATHLETES? Athletes who join Cirque du Soleil come to us with a complete spectrum of acrobatic skills. They have trained as athletes for years, and when they come to Cirque they are ready to refocus their careers on the world of entertainment. The training approach we use depends on the show to which each artist is assigned, meaning the ideas the director and other creators have in mind and the set in which they will be performing. But even if the top priority is delivering the show, I nevertheless try to use a personal approach with every artist to bring out his or her own energy. Q. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR CREATIVE PHILOSOPHY? Today, inventing a brand new aerial act is getting harder and harder to do. The art of aerial movement has spread across the planet over the last 15 years, so many avenues have already been explored. New communication platforms like YouTube, for example, have made it easier to share information. As a result, creating and reinventing focus on combining and interweaving different types of content and playing with the nuances between them. Ideas that are truly one-of-a-kind are more difficult to find … but at Cirque we do have some new approaches that are currently in development and will be unveiled in the future! Q. AS AN ACROBATIC DESIGNER, HOW DO YOU WORK WITH THE DIRECTOR OF A NEW SHOW IN CREATION? Every creator, whether acrobatic or artistic, works very closely with the others to meet the director’s requirements. The show creation process always begins with a brainstorming session and at that point, anything and everything is possible. Even ideas that aren’t necessarily feasible are welcome. We go as far as we can and come up with as many ideas as possible. That’s crucial. We can’t close any doors. Instead, we let ourselves go and join in the adventure led by the director and the director of creation. Q. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE A CANDIDATE WHO’s THINKING ABOUT JOINING THE CIRQUE DU SOLEIL ADVENTURE? Candidates should be completely open-minded. They should show up ready to give their all and to learn. The possibilities at Cirque’s training studio are unlimited, and the conditions are excellent. They just have to take advantage of that! * * * BERNARD PETIOT Vice-President, Casting and Performance “Athletes who join Cirque du Soleil must continue to develop their skills and challenge their limits. However, unlike the situation in the competitive environments they came from, they now do so by working in cooperation with their peers. Everyone is interdependent. Because when all is said and done, the true winner at Cirque du Soleil has to be the show." After discovering artistic gymnastics as a child, Bernard followed his passion all the way to the Canadian university circuit, where he won numerous titles including “Athlete of the Year" from Quebec City’s Université Laval in 1975. Then, along with one of his professors, he founded Club Salto in the same city, where he created the women’s gymnastics program and coached for eight years. Upon completing his Master’s degree, Bernard was recruited by Montreal’s Club Gymnix to take the reins of the advanced gymnastics program while simultaneously teaching at Université de Montréal. In 1997, he created an advanced training program for coaches at the National Multisport Centre in Montreal as part of the National Coaching Certification Program. Bernard’s career as a coach was prolific: in addition to taking part in 13 World Championships, he trained four Olympic athletes, more than any other Quebec coach. In 1998, Cirque du Soleil recruited Bernard to head up its training studio, directing training programs for acrobats and supervising coaches and medical staff. Q. AS VICE PRESIDENT OF CASTING AND PERFORMANCE, WHAT IS YOUR ROLE AT CIRQUE DU SOLEIL? I am in charge of casting for artists from artistic, circus and sports backgrounds. I am also responsible for supervising coaching operations, training programs, artists’ health therapists and specialists who design innovative human performances of a physical and acrobatic nature, as well as seeing to the good governance of all those activities. I make sure the necessary resources, infrastructures and mechanisms are in place to meet our goals for shows currently in performance as well as new creations. Q. HOW IMPORTANT ARE SPORTS AT CIRQUE? Sports are very important for us since 50% of our artists-acrobats come from a sports background. Also, part of Cirque’s fame and unique style can be attributed to the highly developed athletic and sport skills featured in our shows, and gymnastics skills are the main contributors. Drawing on acrobatic skills acquired through sports, we can explore various performances faster and in greater depth and take calculated risks that are a cut above the traditional circus approach. That’s true from a psychological viewpoint as well as from a technical and physical perspective. Q. WHAT IS CIRQUE’S APPROACH TO ARTISTS? We have two distinct approaches. With artists from an entertainment background, like singers, musicians, clowns and actors, our approach is based on respecting the strengths they already have. They are professionals who come to Cirque with special skills and abilities, and we treat them as such. Our role is to help them apply their expertise in the Cirque du Soleil context. With athletes, their arrival at Cirque means they have chosen to reorient their careers. We therefore have to respect the skills they’ve learned, but we also start from the premise that those skills are insufficient to meet all our needs, whether in terms of acrobatics or show-specific aspects like stage presence. As a result, we teach them what they need to know to make the transition a success. Q. HOW DOES CIRQUE ASSIST ARTISTS ALONG THEIR PATH TO JOINING A SHOW? We have a complete infrastructure in place. First, an orientation team helps artists make the transition to life in Montreal, where our training studio is located. Then, we offer three types of training: acrobatic, artistic and personal-professional. Each type of training is overseen by experts, allowing artists to achieve real progress. As soon as they join Cirque in Montreal, athletes become artists- employees. As such, they have to take responsibility for their artistic development, and they have to get used to doing things they’ve never done before. That process requires them to demonstrate their own creativity, making a real effort and learning by trial and error. Q. HOW MUCH OF A CHALLENGE IS THE MIX OF DIFFERENT NATIONALITIES? The biggest challenge is communication: understanding artists, making yourself understood by them, and making sure they get along with each other. The solution lies in accepting our cultural differences. We have to help our artists become active participants in life at Cirque. In other words, we have to succeed in making the most of each person’s individual color and unique personality and cultural traits. Q. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE A CANDIDATE THINKING ABOUT BECOMING PART OF THE CIRQUE DU SOLEIL ADVENTURE? Don’t put up any barriers or cling to preconceived notions: instead, try to be open-minded. The best way to do that is to get as much information as possible—for example, by visiting the Casting website, learning about Cirque by viewing DVDs of our shows, and eventually sending us your application. In a word, candidates should open their minds to getting in touch with their inner artist! * * * BORIS VERKHOVSKY Director of Acrobatics and Coaching Early on, as an elite athlete part of the Russian Men’s National Team in Sport Acrobatics, Boris Verkhovsky discovered a bigger passion for coaching than performing. Having graduated from the Byelorussian State University with a degree in Physical Education and Sports specializing in coaching, he immigrated to Canada in 1978 where he had to quickly adapt his coaching style to the Canadian amateur sport environment. Having succeeded in that, he worked his way through the ranks to become the Head Coach of the Canadian National Trampoline and Tumbling team when, in 1993, he was approached by Cirque du Soleil to consult on a proposed tumbling act for the Las Vegas resident show Mystère. Boris’ great expertise in the acrobatic field soon made it clear to all involved at Cirque that they needed to secure his expertise. First hired as Head Coach for the Acrobatic Training Department, his role through the years grew to the point where, as current Director of Acrobatic Performance and Coaching, he directs the assignment, development and management of teams of coaches, guiding them to select strategies and to design interventions and coaching methodologies to support Cirque’s current and future needs. Making full use of his knowledge and expertise, he also contributes directly to the design of acrobatic acts for shows in creation. Q. HOW DO YOU GUIDE AN ATHLETE IN THIS TRANSITION FROM THE SPORTS WORLD TO BECOMING AN ARTIST ON STAGE? The most important element is to make sure that the person is very comfortable with the concept that we will be capitalizing on what they’ve already accomplished. We tell them, you’ve achieved wonderful results, you’ve developed a phenomenal range of skills, now let’s use those skills but in a very different way and in a very different environment. The modern thinking in complex model learning is that expediency in learning should not become the goal. Therefore, we begin right away the process of introducing the complex environment: the acrobatic and artistic elements are both present in learning. When the artists arrive here in Montreal, we begin intensive artistic workshops right from the start. Of course, we also introduce right from the start the acrobatic elements. As soon as there is an opportunity, we merge the two. In an ideal training environment, both elements should always be present. The psycho-professional development is also very important to us. As Cirque is a very different environment, the performance psychologist helps reshape the attitude, the focus and the commitment of artists. In the sport world, you are used to doing a phenomenal amount of training and very few performances. In our environment, the reverse is true; training is limited as you cannot physically afford it but there is a lot of performance. In that regard, performing becomes a form of training. At the same time, you have a responsibility to the public: your performance cannot be perceived as “just training”. Q. WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE AN ATHLETE SHOULD EXPECT TO FACE WHEN ARRIVING AT CIRQUE DU SOLEIL? When you are an athlete coming from a fairly elite level - which is the majority of people who come to us - you are used to an environment where you know every aspect - inside and outside. At that stage of the game, discovery is limited. You are a master at what you do. You have developed the capacity to deliver the performances in those few peak moments throughout the year called competitions. When you arrive at Cirque, the element of discovery is enormous. We put athletes in a different environment. They get to perform 9 to 10 times a week. They perform on equipment that they’ve never seen or tried before. Gradually, the artistic element allows them to learn that performing is not about doing tricks; performing is for the public. The acrobatics skills are one of the tools used to evoke emotions. That element of discovery is exciting to be part of. Q. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR CREATIVE PHILOSOPHY? You have to begin with the notion that “everything is possible” It is at the base of every creation process whether it be in terms of training environment, development of an act or development of a skill, to name but a few. If you begin by thinking “It’s impossible” you are thwarting innovation and creation. In a strange duality is the fact that we have to be intelligent and reasonable. When we create, the risk of being overwhelmed by the passion for the new and exciting is fairly high. What we create has to be sustainable and delivered consistently, about 350 times a year in a touring show and 450 times a year in a resident show. Acrobatics are a mean of expression, not an end in themselves. They help generate the wow effect and that’s what people want to see when they come to Cirque du Soleil. But the wow can come in many different forms. Acrobatics are part of the vocabulary, as opposed to tricks but they are not the only form of wow. Q. WHAT ROLE DO YOU THINK ACROBATICS PLAY IN CIRQUE DU SOLEIL? HOW DO THEY FIT INTO THE MIX? Acrobatics are an essential part of Cirque. The human performance is the central point of Guy Laliberte’s vision when we create a show. That physical aspect of human performance and ability remains a very critical element. It’s a central element. Without beautiful choreography, intriguing costumes, wonderful makeup, phenomenal music, superb theatrical lighting and stunning scenography, acrobatics cannot speak. However, without acrobatics, something is lost. That is why at Cirque, every acrobatic element, or intention of an acrobatic element, has to be world-class. Q. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A FUTURE CIRQUE DU SOLEIL ARTIST? It’s not easy. It’s exciting. It’s an opportunity of joining a profession. It will take phenomenal amount of physical, mental and emotional effort. But it will reward you in ways that you haven’t experienced in a sport. Working for the public rather than for the judges is another world, and it’s a wonderful world. # # # Stay tuned for more pieces of this series coming soon! In Part Two, we’ll hear from Claude Chaput (Conductor, Composer, and Arranger), David Shiner (Director and Clown), Dominic Champagne (Director), and Francois Girard (Director). And in Part Three: Laur Fugere (Singer & Vocal Coach), Luc Tremblay (Choreographer and Educator), Mia Michaels (Choreographer), and Robert Lepage (Director). ======================================================================= COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER ======================================================================= Fascination! Newsletter Volume 17, Number 3 (Issue #158) - March 2017 "Fascination! Newsletter" is a concept by Ricky Russo. Copyright (C) 2001-2017 Ricky Russo, published by Vortex/RGR Productions, a subsidiary of Communicore Enterprises. No portion of this newsletter can be reproduced, published in any form or forum, quoted or translated without the consent of the "Fascination! Newsletter." By sending us correspondence, you give us permission (unless otherwise noted) to use the submission as we see fit, without remuneration. All submissions become the property of the "Fascination! Newsletter." "Fascination! Newsletter" is not affiliated in any way with Cirque du Soleil. Cirque du Soleil and all its creations are Copyright (C) and are registered trademarks (TM) of Cirque du Soleil, Inc., and Créations Méandres, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No copyright infringement intended. { Mar.04.2017 } =======================================================================